O•S•C•A•R© Fida's Pizza Changes Hands - Old Ottawa South

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Page 18 By M. Lindsay Lambert I am very angry at Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal Party’s decision to merge the Ontario Provinical Sales Tax with the GST. I had been quite proud to be in a Province, which had maintained a stand against the Federal Government’s tax system on behalf of its constituents. The reason given for the HST is that it will allow industry to become more competitive through the removal of the 8% PST that they now pay on their inputs. Consumers will be taxed more to make up the shortfall. I operate a small business, and don’t have a problem with paying some Provincial Sales Tax. Like every other commercial concern, I am currently exempt from the PST on materials and goods that I buy for resale, as my customers ultimately pay the 8% levy. I am only responsible for covering it on other expenses. I have been collecting Retail Sales Tax for almost 28 years, doing my part in supporting the system. The remittance forms always include the standard threat of penalties for late filing or non-compliance. I find it very curious that your government now doesn’t care if I collect any RST at my income level, unless I am charging the Federal Government’s tax as well. I want Ontario to retain our current Retail Sales Tax System. It The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR MAY 2010 is our Provincial tax, and it is under our control. It works in a more balanced and human way than the GST model: Since the RST was introduced, it has gradually evolved in response to economic change and new requirements. The rate has increased over the year, and it was extended to most services in 1982. Certain principles have been maintained throughout, particularly the exemption of essential goods and services. (It was conceived as a tax on discretionary purchases only.) There is a good balance in the application of the tax between businesses and consumers: The former are exempt from the levy on goods or materials that they buy for resale, as their customers ultimately pay it, but cover it on other costs. Everyone benefits form Provincial Government services, and we are all responsible for maintaining them. The legislation also recognizes that businesses are doing a job in collecting and administering the tax on behalf of the Province, and are entitled to compensation. The RST is a flexible tax. If your government wishes to help businesses during hard times, you could permit them to claim back all their input taxes until prosperity returns. You could also encourage exports by providing rebates directly related to the percentage of goods sent out of the province. Under the Harmonized Sales Tax, Ontario will be abrogating its authority HST Opposition over the sales tax in favour of the Federal Government’s rules. The HST, based on the GST, is a very rigid tax formula: It will permanently transfer business’ share of the Provincial RST to consumers, irrespective of whether the economy is prospering or in recession. The long-standing principle of exemption necessities will be discarded. Rebates to people with low income and tax cuts elsewhere have been promised, but I don’t believe that they will be equal to the new tax burden on the general public. The provincial Liberal government’s claim that the Province will actually be losing revenue under the HST is nonsense. Businesses will no longer be compensated for collecting sales tax. This is wrong: People can’t be pressganged into working for free in this day and age. The McGuinty Liberals and boosters of he Harmonized Sales Tax have been asserting that businesses will be lowering prices for consumers with the removal of provincial sales tax from their inputs under the new system. Commerce doesn’t work this way: businesses are the business to make a profit, and tend to charge what the market will bear. The Mulroney Conservatives made the same claim for the Goods and Services Tax, regarding the removal of the old federal Manufacturers’ Sales Tax that was supposedly embedded in prices. When I registered to collect Retail Sales Tax, I signed up my business. My Vendor Permit is made out to “M. Lindsay Lambert Restoration” as were my RST Returns. The Goods and Services Tax requires the registration of one’s person, unless the business is incorporated. The Federal tax also defines private sales of used goods as Non-Taxable Supply, and I assume that both provisions will be extended to the HST> This creates a legal inequality: if you are registered as an individual, everything that you do comes under the rules of taxation. You cannot make a private sale. Your employee can sell his or her old chesterfield tax-free, but you will automatically be a tax criminal if you do the same. I expect to register a business for sales tax purposes, but no government has jurisdiction over everything that I do in my life. I am not government property, and will never register for the HST under this condition. In October of last year, the Ministry of Revenue assigned me a new business number in place of my original one, and the tax return slips are now imprinted “M. Lambert.” I telephoned to question this, and was informed that the change was to bring the RST in line with the GST. Cont’d on next page
MAY 2010 WINDSOR REDUX B PART 12 For nearly eight years, from February 2000 to August 2008, OSCAR carried a monthly column. The Windsor Chronicles, written by Zoscha the Wonder Dog. Zoscha became something of a celebrity in our neighbourhood, and her observations on the passing scene, from a canine perspective, attracted her share of loyal readers as well as critics. OSCAR is reprinting some of Zoscha’s musings from eight years ago. The editors have annotated where we feel that today’s readers may need to be informed of references that may no longer be remembered by readers today, or where recent scholarship has shed further light on the world described in the Windsor Chronicles.. May, 2001 Dear Boomer, The squirrels are out, the kids are back in the playground, and even the humanoids eat outdoors. Over the past winter, my humanoids kept me outside. They provided a little house on the deck beside the back door. In recent The government was apparently organizing for the HST well before the budget vote last March. There are some sound reasons for retaining our present provincial retail sales tax rather than joining with the Federal GST system. Medical services are currently GST-exempt, and will not be subject to the HST. Being exempt, they cannot claim their input taxes back like regular businesses. As of July 1, 2010, doctors, therapists, diagnostic clinics and hospitals will be required to 8% more in new Provincial taxes on their commercial rents, heating, and electrical bills. (Hospitals will receive the municipality’s rebate on HST, as they do on the GST, so they won’t be hurting as much.) These are not taxable under the present PST. This is a substantial cost, and they will have to absorb it unless OHIP coverage is increased to compensate. This makes no sense. Our medical system is paid for through our taxes and all revenue should be used for health purposes. It shouldn’t be clawed back with a major hidden tax. Our food supply is more than taxexempt; it is Zero-rated. Groceries are not taxed, but everyone from farmers up through the distribution chain get to claim the input taxes on their expenses back as well. It should be the same for our health services. Mr Naqui states that his government has cut personal income The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR Page 19 Eating Outdoors weeks, they’ve moved this little house into the shade under the trees by the garden. I’m not so sure I prefer it there. Perhaps when the summer weather gets really hot, I’ll see the benefits, but right now, it just keeps me too far away from the rest of the pack. That is, of course, except for those lovely evenings when the pack assembles on the deck, and my Alpha fires up the charring machine. Then the delectable smells of dinner waft across the lawn. On the soft evenings, you can lift your sniffer in the air, and tell what all the neighbours are barbecuing. At times like this, I’m sorry that the humanoids have fenced the perimeter of my territory. How wonderful if I could trot along the property lines, following the smells along the great buffet of backyard barbecues. One of my favourite things about this season: we resort to the more relaxed rules of outdoor eating. Inside the house, I’m often required to wait my turn in the spot below the kitchen counter, while the rest of the pack eats in the dining room. Only when the rest of the pack has finished am I allowed to go and glean whatever I can find. From my spot in the kitchen, I HST Opposition ... Cont’d from previous page taxes for 93% of Ontarians, “putting more money into the hands of families for them to decide how to spend it.” He doesn’t remind us that the PST will be extended to such essentials as heating fuel, electricity and gasoline. We have no choice on purchasing these, and I doubt if the reduced income taxes will compensate. Our current Provincial Sales Tax exempts necessities. This long-standing principle has been thrown out the window with the HST. Mr Naqui asserts that this is a “balanced tax package for families and businesses.” Under the present PST rules, businesses are exempt form paying the tax on goods and materials that they buy for resale, as their customers pay the 8% levy. They are only required to cover it on other expenses. I operate a small business, and regard this as a reasonable balance. We all rely on the same government services, and we are all jointly responsible for keeping them up. Under the HST, businesses will get to claim all their Provincial Input taxes back, and consumers will be taxed more to make up the shortfall. This is not equitable. As an individual, I regard businesses as neighbours. It’s not fair that the McGuinty Liberals should exempt my neighbours from a tax, and then expect me to pay it in Cont’d on next page have a good vantage point to watch the Pup, studying every morsel of meat and pasta that he inadvertently drops on the floor. As the Pup gets older, there’s a diminishing rate of return, but the quality of food improves. I would not want to go back to the days of pablum and mash, even though there was always ample spillings to go around. But in the summer, when we gather on the deck, there are different rules of proximity. I’m allowed on the deck as well and, if I don’t call too much attention to myself, they even let me haunch right down beside the Pup himself. This means being able to pick off any droppings right away, of course. And it also means that I can practice my skills at hypnotism – animal magnetism, as the humanoids used to call it. If I can position myself below the table from Alpha’s sightline, and with the back of my head toward She Who Must Be Obeyed, I have an unobstructed view of the Pup’s eyes. I can try various expressions on him: lonely, hungry, fun-filled, best-friend, partners in crime. And over the course of a meal I often go through variations of all these and more. By the end of the meal when the ice cream comes out, I resort to all- out hypnotism. I telepathize my message: “Drop the cone! Drop the cone!” So far, I have yet to score the big one. But on the hottest evenings, I am rewarded with frequent drippings of ice cream when the Pup is too busy paying attention to me to keep pace with the rivulets of melting ice cream. I consider all of this to be good training for those afternoons when we all go down to the Dairy Queen. (1) They leave me outside while they buy the ice cream, which leaves me time to ingratiate myself to anyone else who passes by. When they come out again, cones in hand, I have enough new friends to try my hypnosis on anyone sitting at the outside tables. I have faith that, some day – maybe very soon in this wonderfully hot weather – I will be rewarded for this hard work and diligence. Bone appetit, Zoscha (1) The Dairy Queen on Bank Street near Riverdale continues to be a favourite gathering place for both canines and humans on summer evenings.
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Page 3 and 4: MAY 2010 OSCAR The The OTTAWA SOUTH
Page 5 and 6: MAY 2010 OSCA PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Page 7 and 8: MAY 2010 CITY COUNCILLOR’S REPORT
Page 9 and 10: MAY 2010 By William Burr The restau
Page 11 and 12: MAY 2010 17th Ottawa (Southminster)
Page 13 and 14: MAY 2010 mass that approximates the
Page 15 and 16: MAY 2010 The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR
Page 17: MAY 2010 Primary Paleontologists Ca
Page 21 and 22: MAY 2010 By Michael Preuss In the A
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Page 31 and 32: MAY 2010 OCDSB TRUSTEE REPORT The O
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Page 37 and 38: MAY 2010 Demystifying Home Technolo
Page 39 and 40: MAY 2010 MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT OTTAW
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