cktimes.ca Archives for Ecowrappin'
Ecowrappin'
TAXES, REGULATIONS AND ELECTIONS --- THE STIFLED ECONOMY
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The current state of the Canadian economy is not good; but it is not bad either if compared to our rich(?) neighbour to the south, and to many other countries around the globe. Even though the state of our economy has much to do with global economics, and no single politician can magically set the finances straight; there are stifles to the Canadian, and especially the provincial, economy that politicians and the entrenched bureaucracy could be doing something about.Taxman McGinty told us prior to the last provincial election that, if elected, he would not raise existing taxes. This of course turned out to be a lie. But even if this promise had turned out truthful, it says nothing about the creation of new taxes. This is where the electorate, in grand fashion, has been duped once again. The Harmonized Sales Tax aside, many and varied taxes have been created over the past year or two. Looking closely, we are being loonied and toonied to death. This is the kind of contempt and distain many politicians and senior bureaucrats actually have for their should-be collective bosses. Proof of this is the typical, usually weak and shallow, attempt to disguise new taxes from public recognition. Whether they are labelled as surcharge, administration fees, debt retirement, traffic violations, regulatory charges, or provincial benefit: they are still nothing more than taxes. Yes, provincial benefit! This is something that I just recently noticed in my electricity bill. Provincial Benefit ($13.48) and Provincial Benefit Loss ($0.76) for a Total Provincial Benefit of $14.24! This “Benefit” has actually been there over several months and it has ranged from roughly $8 to roughly $20 per month, depending on the month. The rate per kilowatt/hour is not consistent; it seems to change from month to month. Does this “Provincial Benefit” cover the subsidization of wind generated power and/or other green initiatives---initiatives that look good, especially politically, but often cost more than they are worth? Or is it just another “hidden tax” for who knows what? Tell me, I would like to know for sure! It might give me some comfort knowing that the fruits of my labour are being further taxed for the greater environmental good, if not some semblance of efficiency and productive output. There are two things that you can be assured of: this tax will not got away; and it will not get smaller as time goes on.
When government leaders start throwing our money around, usually in association with a lot of smoke and mirrors, they need to recoup that money somewhere in order to avoid scandalous and embarrassing debt and deficit figures. Hence, new taxes! The taxpayer becomes poorer as his own money supposedly comes back to him through various perks and subsidies because, throughout the process, the value of his dollar is vastly diminished through grossly inefficient and unaccountable bureaucratic, administrative and politically correct processes and scams.
I have been in the business of making things happen and getting things done most of my life. This is called real work, folks! All along that path I have seen regulatory process become an ever larger, all-encompassing monster. Not that we are needless of some regulation and development control. It is the depth and timeliness of these processes that have gone completely awry. It does not matter to the regulatory review and approval people how long the process takes. Remember, their jobs are largely secure! Passing the proposal around the office and across to other jurisdictions for comment is a means of job security, decision avoidance, collective ass covering and sadly, increased revenues via a plethora of new review, approval and inspection fees. The more times the proposal can be cycled through this process via requests for more and more information, the more self-sustaining and self-important the regulators become. This not only stifles the motivation of the small entrepreneur to entertain or advance a project because of overwhelming process and costs, it drags out the economic downturn because economic stimulus cannot get underway in either timely or cost-effective fashions. One would think that most politicians and bureaucrats at any level would recognize and deal with these roadblocks and facilitate the processes, but then again they are bound up in their own secure, often ignorant, little worlds.
By the time this appears in the C-K Times Website we should all know for sure whether another election is in the offing. An election---to be or not to be---will depend on how stupid and self-centred some of our fearful leaders really are. The results of said election will depend on whether the Canadian electorate is any smarter than it was a year ago; or just as stupid, especially those urban ethnic collectives who tend to vote the same way every time; or as they are told, without consideration of candidate or issues. A Croatian friend of mine assures me that this is the case; his parents have voted the Party, not the party line, for some 20 years. He tells me this is the rampant, yet standard practice in virtually every ethnic community within the GTA and the core areas of other major centres. Dealing with an election in an independent-minded fashion is foreign to them; pardon the pun.
Spending millions on an election during a depressed economy is just so much needless folly. That recently enlarged segment of the electorate who are without the comforts of steady employment and a secure income must truly see the irony in such an asinine frittering away of public tax dollars. If the economy is out of control, it is because our public services and associated political, bureaucratic and administrative structures have been out of control for some time!
Turn the people loose! The health of the economy is highly dependant on the initiative and freedom of the private sector. Adhere to established standards and codes; maintain reasonable development controls; protect agricultural lands and the diversity and health of the natural environment; but above all be efficient and accountable. Quit stifling an economic renewal with largely created, and usually excessive, roadblocks. Stop the empire building; nothing good ever comes of it!
I was born on the Bruce Peninsula on July 20, 1951 and raised on a farm just south of the village of Lions Head, which is located about halfway up the peninsula on the Georgian Bay shoreline. I graduated from Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Barrie in 1973 as a Resources Engineering Technologist. I was hired by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) in April of 1975 as the first DUC employee in Ontario. Throughout almost 29 years I was involved with the implementation of more than 500 wetland projects and project complexes in southwestern and south central Ontario. Some of these habitat projects included important waterfowl and migratory bird habitat along the eastern shoreline of Lake St. Clair. Just three weeks short of completing 29 years with DUC, I accepted an early retirement opportunity effective March 31, 2004.
