The Toronto I know today

My first non tech related article.

I came to Toronto, Canada when I was one month shy of being 12. Back then, Toronto was a more affordable place to live in compare to now. I’m no expert in politics nor I know much about how our Government functions but with a ridiculous tax that will be effective on Monday September 1st as well as recent decision made by our Prime Minister Stephen Harper just make me think why do we keep on electing incompetent leaders to lead our city.

After the land transfer tax that became effective since Feb 1st of this year, we now have yet another new tax coming that will haunt us for as long as I can foresee. The new vehicle tax, which will be effective on September 1st will be applied to all personal vehicles only. The tax will charge motorists $60 for a car and $30 for a motorcycle every time a license plate has to be renewed. That is on top of $70 something dollars that we have to pay to renew our plates for one year. And you can’t just not pay it, no pay no plate renewed, simple as that. Those who submit for renewal before August 31st and are renewing for two years can escape the fee until 2010.

I just read the news today (August 27), that our Prime Minister Stephen Harper is calling for an election after being in the office for two and a half years. The first thing that comes to mind, with common sense, is that he is trying to walk away from all these troubles and difficulties that we are facing in Toronto. He stated he has trouble working with the opposition party and that if his office cannot be productive then people should elect someone that can. Yet another irresponsible statement in my opinion.

Finally, what was the point of reducing GST, that was barely noticeable when buying everyday needs? The GST reduction was quickly blanketed by all these taxes that were introduced this year. There was really no tax breaks at all, the government is basically taking some percentage here and put it elsewhere, if not adding more. Living in Toronto is getting so expensive nowadays along with the gas hikes (but I won’t discuss it here since its not just in Toronto, gas prices are rising everywhere). I feel unjust that we have to pay for all these taxes and the government is still having trouble balancing our budget, where did all our money go?

Thank you for hearing my rant and please feel free to correct me as I’m only writing based on what I see and how I feel.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm