Quebec's Latest Demand

One of the major obstacles for Quebec about the recent Concon budget - if you can call it that - is the demand for compensation to the tune of $2.2 billy's for harmonizing its GST tax with Ottawa. At the time it was done in 1992 with Concon finance minister Michael Wilson, there was no deal for compensation but, as the article explains, soon afterwards when other provinces harmonized compensation was asked and given.

So Quebec, not willing to be excluded out of nothing, demanded for compensation too. They do this the best way they know how. By claiming it's an anti-Quebec thing. No it's not. It's an anti-bull shit thing.

There's a kicker and it all comes down to Quebec's little tax game.

This precisely why a few of my friends went to Ontario to open their successful businesses:

"There’s a major difference in how the tax is collected in Quebec. Under harmonization with the other five provinces, the federal government administers and collects the sales tax. Revenu Québec, however, administers and collects the GST for the Canada Revenue Agency. And that has resulted in some controversial practices.



For instance, Quebec charges its sales tax on top of the GST. The practice has become known as the “tax on the tax.” The money collected by Quebec, by adding the 8.5-per-cent PST on top of the 5-per-cent GST, has amounted to millions of dollars in additional revenue for the province over the years. The federal government has demanded Quebec put an end to this practice."

And you know what? The damn Feds are right on this one.

Run a business here and then come talk to me.

Trust me, Quebecers who own small businesses aren't stupid; except for the self-serving nationalists of course. They'd more than gladly let the Feds handle things so long as the tax load and corruption lessens. Quebec is so bloody expensive because of the taxes many of us don't even bother to shop here. I don't - even for food items. Spare me the gas thing. Out of principle, I have no problem driving one hour to Plattsburgh to bag me some goodies.

I mean, folks, they have Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. Why don't we?

Don't get me on the payroll taxes nonsense. Pure bull. Oof, and property taxes in Montreal which have become scandalous. The reason they rise is because of the waste and corruption. In the municipality where I have my daycare (population 14 000), they run a surplus. As a result, my taxes are so low they're not even a tax. It's just another average expense.