If it looks like a tax, chances are it is a tax

Source: Ottawa Sun
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William Shakespeare once wrote that a rose by any other name is still a rose. The same could be said about the new eco fee that the provincial government snuck in on July 1 by taking advantage of the din around the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). If it looks like a tax, and hurts like a tax, chances are it is a tax, no matter what the minions in Toronto say.

The reaction to the eco tax (we will not call it a fee, that is just nonsense) has been slow in developing, primarily because of the way it was snuck in, without prior debate or knowledge of opposition MPPs so they could at least vigorously question it during question period. Only now, two weeks later, are people starting to feel the sting of this eco tax, and are starting to scream loud enough to wake up their MPPs.

Consider this: On more than 5,000 everyday products you purchase, there is now an eco tax that ranges from 20% to 40%, and more in some cases.

Ostensibly, this is to cover the cost of recycling these products or their containers by a nearly anonymous group called the Ontario Stewardship Council, an unelected, unaccountable group of lobbyists and tree-huggers with little care how their tax will impact on middle-income and elderly Ontarians. A simple bottle of Javex bleach, on sale in many stores last week for 99 cents, cost you $1.52 before you left the store after 15 cents for the HST and 38 cents for the eco tax were added at the cash.

This affects a wide range of products, everything from electric razors and toothbrushes, to batteries, to sunblock, flashlights, detergent ... you name it, and the province will be digging into your pocket for the recycling fee (eco tax) it says it needs to dispose of its remains safely ... despite the fact municipalities already tax you for recycling and disposal.

This should get your blood boiling, not just for the underhanded way it was implemented, but for the simple fact that it is precisely what is meant by the term "taxation without representation," which is illegal under the British North America Act. There was no discussion, no feedback, no due process.

Is that a democracy?