A Cramahe View

Northumberland M.P.P Lou Rinaldi and his team greeted about 15 Cramahe citizens with smiles and charm at the Keeler Center on Thursday, January 21. With no flute in hand however and no cobra in a sack, it was clear that charm was in full force.


Now charm is another way really to say fool, and this generally is a tactic to gain favour, or more often, to get something out of somebody. And what more does the provincial government want but more taxes for bigger budgets. This revenue translates into a new flowery and quite beautifully worded, H.S.T or harmonized sales tax. Where the harmony comes into play, I’m not too sure, but it’s probably worded accordingly to charm you into believing it’s benefiting us in some way and calm you when your bills start coming in.

As of July 1, 2010, as you may already be aware, the H.S.T is being instituted province-wide. This cure-all tax is a merger of the existing G.S.T and P.S.T basically and has further implication for businesses. With G.S.T at 5% currently, and P.S.T measuring in at 8%, H.S.T will be a 13% tax on all retail purchases, professional service purchases, fuel and energy purchases, property purchases and nearly everything in between. The hand-out which was provided, walked us through 31 pages of savings outlined by the Ministry of Revenue, and I have to hand it to them, they make it seem pretty good.

Granted, many attendants at the meeting met the news of tax hikes with nods of approval and understanding. Most of these came from the ladies of the office of Mr. Rinaldi, and generally most women 40 and older in the audience, who have too been charmed by Rinaldi’s down-to-earth and small-town connection.

This is not an attack on Mr. Rinaldi in the least.

Read more