The Tax Man’s Coming…and He’s Coming for You.
For anyone who’s read John Donne’s Meditation 17, that might sound a little familiar. But don’t worry about that, we have bigger problems 
. I was at a Toyota dealership the other day, getting my car serviced. While I was in the waiting room, I saw something scary on TV and had to look it up when I got home. Brace yourselves for this now: Canadian workers are going to be paying more taxes in 2012.
It’s mostly due to increases in EI premiums. While the government claims that personal income taxes haven’t been increased, the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation maintains that we will actually see them rise anyway because the provincial rate of inflation is higher than the rate used to calculate the federal income tax brackets. I don’t exactly know what that means mathematically, but I’m positive it means we’re all screwed. The corporate tax rate has gone down, of course.
I, for one, have switched over from body wash to bars of soap and have started buying $20 jeans. No compromise for me on health food and moisturizing lotions, but if I have to live like a hippy when it comes to clothing and entertainment just to make budget, well then, I know what I have to do 
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We’ve all been promised a few tax credits, of course, to make up for it all. But tax credits are kind of like gift cards. They usually fall short of what you would need to spend to get what you want, they’re non-refundable and non-transferable, and they force you to shop places you don’t always like for things you don’t always need. It’s usually parents with families or dependents that qualify for tax credits and while I realize it’s hard being a parent and you need all the help you can get, it’s also scary being single and living on a low income that’s overtaxed to help out people that don’t even fit into the same category as you. And while I’m on that, I think EI is great and necessary in terms of offering a helping hand. What I don’t like about having to spend more on it is when the government uses EI contributions to fund social programs that are inaccessible to the majority of Canadians (like that 246-million in EI funds dedicated to special benefits for fisheries: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/tax-man-to-hit-canadian-workers-harder-in-2011/article1851480/). I’m all for helping out unemployed fellow citizens with tax dollars, but I have a hard time believing that’s all that’s happening here.
Why am I not completely enraged? Good question. This does seem like the kind of thing that would normally piss me off. Here’s why: I have completely stopped believing in the system over the last few years. I don’t think Canada is the worst place to live, far from it. I believe there are opportunities here that don’t exist elsewhere in the world…for now. But I have no intention of being a wage slave. That is what the grossly wealthy (including many who are higher up in the government) want us to be so that they can continue to profit off of us. I’m not going to help make that dream come true for them. That’s why I don’t own an iPhone or max out my credit cards going on trips to the Caribbean or blow money on concerts and clubbing anymore. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your life just to pay for one. There’s gotta be another way. And when I find out what it is, I’ll let you know.
It’s New Year’s Eve, by the way. Here’s wishing everyone out there a happy, safe holiday. Not that I know anyone who’s ever claimed to have had a really “happy” New Year’s. But there’s a first time for everything, right? And with public transportation doing free rides, if you end up driving home drunk tonight anyway, I honestly hope you do get busted and fined and that it doesn’t involve taking someone’s life. Not convinced that it’s a big deal? According to this article, impaired driving is the leading cause of criminal death in Canada:
And for people that post up RIDE checkpoints on Twitter and shit, let’s hope you don’t help someone run you down on your way home. Because that would be really ironic. I watched a Closer episode about something like that. A daughter helped her mother avoid a drunk driving checkpoint and her mom ended up killing a girl her age on a scooter.
