Toronto’s Surprise Tax: $60 for What Exactly?
Earlier this month, I paid renewals for my my driver’s license and vehicle plate. Funny, the envelope that was mailed to me with the forms for these didn’t include anything about a new $60 Toronto resident’s tax. Since I’d been out-of-town a lot over the summer, I thought I might have missed news coverage of it. Apparently not. Most agree this one got snuck in without hoopla. Astonishing? Or, Perhaps we’re all paying too much attention to US politics?
At College Park’s (long-lined) Ontario Service Counter, there was no explanatory literature, or prominent signage. The only thing necessary to know, it seemed, was that if you didn’t pay up there and then you couldn’t make the other renewals. Employees working at the counter weren’t afraid to mention that they didn’t agree with the tax (they’d be paying it too). When I got home, I pulled up a September 1 (08) Globe ad Mail article which offered more details. Then, when speaking to friends and acquaintances who drive in Toronto but live in the suburbs, their snigger wasn’t surprising. This extra charge didn’t apply to them!
From Sarah Palin’s lipstick to John McCain serenely placing his rose on the September 11 memorial at Ground Zero, while Barack Obama appeared to toss his, most of us (myself included) have been more engaged with what’s been happening on the other side of the border than with local politics and consequences. (Please check out the drinks menu at the Gladstone’s Melody Bar, in the photo above.)
Let’s remember that Canada has its own (40th) Federal Election October 14, 08. Americans might not know about this, but many Canadians don’t either… On its eve, it seems, the Conservatives have been chopping arts funding right, left, and center. This fact may influence artists’ votes!
p.s. Regular readers might remember my Potty Pots in Rosedale (three-entry) series, from last year. Elections in Canada, it appears, can coincide with interesting displays of how tax payers’ money is allocated, locally as well as nationally. (For more links, please check out the third entry in the series: Potty Post in Rosedale, Part Three—As Elections Near, September 15, 2007).
