Any of you vectors in Canada who THINK you are going to disobey the quarantine rules and regulations, I got news for you: failure to comply comes with a possible $200,000 fine or 6 months in prison. If you commit a summary offense - $300,000 or 6 months and an indictable offense can getcha a whopping million dollar fine or 3 years in the clink! So quarantine, even the type that the word comes from - quarante - forty days, might not seems so bad in comparison, eh?
I'm guessing the indictable offense might be something like purposely spitting, sneezing, coughing or tongue kissing people while knowingly carrying the virus. A million bucks. Isn't it cool the things you can learn while you're cooped up in the house. I'm glad my friend Ian chose to look this up instead of playing Angry Birds, Minecraft, Fortnight or whatever the kids are playing nowadays. My favourite takeaway from this is the word "vector." An insect or animal carrying a deadly disease or virus. Frig off you vector! Heh heh heh. I'm usin' that!
And, my fellow Canadians, while you are using your quarantine time wisely, as I know you are, there are some other little known acts in Canadian politics that are particularly salient in these, our darkest hours. They will become especially salient when things get back to normal in Canada, which I hope doesn't happen because much like China, (not exactly but much) normal was precisely the problem.
I am astounded at some of the trusting (not to say gullible) attitudes with which Canadians have greeted our government's treatment of this pandemic. Now it could be, uh, trumped by other countries, I will say that, but history tells us that these are the times we need to keep our guards up, Canadians. I'm seeing too much of the brow-beaten, apathetic, "well at least," kind of thinking we've been socially conditioned to settle for as a people. It IS good to see the politicians FINALLY doing what they're supposed to be doing! It only took a worldwide pandemic to smarten those vectors up!
I say we should hold our politicians to the standard of politicking and cooperation that they are exhibiting amidst this crisis, every day! One of my pet examples of this is a piece of legislation in Canada that, much like the LAWYER and the Quarantine Act above, we Canadians don't know much, or in my opinion, enough about. So there's no time like the present to get schooled.
Income tax was not imposed federally until 1917 when it was imposed as a temporary measure to help finance WWI. The legislation, which was embodied in the Income War Tax Act, was relatively simple document of some ten pages in length (I even had a copy in my office). The provisions were effective September 20, 1917 and implemented a 4% on all income of single men over $2,000. For others, the personal exemption was $3,000. For those Canadians with annual incomes of more than $6,000, the tax rate ranged from 2 to 25 per cent. Because of what were in fact high exemptions for the time, only about 2-8% of individuals had to file tax returns during this initial tax period. Indeed, in 1934, only 199,000 people paid income tax which represented just under 2% of the total population.
In 1948, the Income Tax Act was passed. It was similar to the Income War Tax Act but was double in size (20 pages). By this time, there were ten different federal tax brackets which ranged from 15% to 84% and far more people were now paying income taxes (17% of the population).
Let me remind you here that WWII ended in 1945. The above adjustment of Canadian income tax was allowed by the ever-accepting Canadian as was the very implementation of the tax, to pay for a war. It happened roughly three years after the national, nay worldwide crisis that was World War II. Keep that in mind.
A major reform of federal income tax legislation began in 1962 with the establishment of the Royal Commission on Taxation under Kenneth Carter (Carter Commission). The Carter Commission presented its 7-volume report in 1967 recommending fundamental changes in tax legislation that would use a comprehensive tax base. This culminated in the budget address of June 18, 1971 that proposed Bill C-259 to amend the Income Tax Act that became effective Jan. 1 1972. The number of brackets peaked at 14 in 1973 and ranged from 4.58% to 61.34% and by then 37% of the population where paying taxes. The result was a considerable change in taxation in Canada and since that date, every budget address has presented a considerable number of amendments to the tax legislation.
Another major tax reform took place in 1987, the key change of which was to reduce the number of tax brackets which numbered nine at the time to three. In addition, tax rates were only indexed to inflation over 3% (this resulted in no change to brackets or benefits between 1991 and 1999 due to low but not 0 inflation – hence bracket creep). In 1991, the GST was introduced.
Finally, substantial tax changes took effect in 2000 including the provincial moving away from the tax on tax system to one where they tax income directly and tax rates and benefits became fully indexed to inflation. The number of federal tax brackets was increased from three to four and by 2006 nearly 50% of the population of Canada paid income taxes.
As of 2010, the federal Income Tax Act alone amounts to 2,847 pages and is one of the worst books every written. There are also the federal Income Tax Regulations and they amount to 1,339 pages. Taxation in Canada is now a very complex system and few Canadians seem to understand it.
In 2019, it was 3206 pages and more than a million words. The Canadian Income Tax Act keeps getting longer, more complicated and more absurdly unjust. It is a monument to Canadian tolerance (not to say spineless submissiveness) to our politicians over these past 100 or so years that we continue to pay this TEMPORARY tax. But this comes to bear in our current situation.
The Coronavirus pandemic is the sort of expensive disaster that the Income Tax Act, or more accurately the War Tax Act, was designed for. Canadians collectively understand that their tax burdens will be used (hopefully assiduously) by our leaders to solve a crisis in our country. Trudeau has unveiled an 82 billion dollar Covid19 stimulus plan to help Canadians who will be adversely affected by the virus. This is great! This is the best governing I've seen in a while. It's awesome to see! How long does he have left in his term? 3 years? I know we will have all forgotten about this post by then, but I just can't help thinking that he's going to use this time of crisis and his government's actions to get re-elected and to raise our taxes. Am I being a negative Nellie?
Let me and George Carlin remind you of something that I think is similar between Canadian and American politicians by and large:
If our PM wants to talk, I'd be glad to hear him talking about something like this: The Korean government officials, including President Moon Jae In, will be giving 30% of their salaries to help fight Corona.
Lastly, don't forget, Justin Trudeau was a drama teacher. He's good at acting. Before we get too carried away with this political love-fest remember, he's lied to us.
Trudeau's reaction to this pandemic is the right reaction. It's not anything ingenious, heroic, or greater than a no-brainer. Don't do what unsuccessful countries have done. Do what the countries that have been more successful in containing the virus have done. And what is that? Just do what the experts tell us to do. Don't pretend to be an expert yourself.
What should we Canadians do? We should listen to the experts (OR ELSE!!!). Stay at home, wash your hands, sit, stay, do what a good dog should do. Maybe even learn some stuff. But my advice is keep in mind, our past governments have used times of crisis to raise this ludicrous income tax most of us pay. Make sure we don't allow our current or future governments to do it. And while we're at it, could we maybe do something about, at long last, getting rid of it? It would undoubtedly be the best way for our country to recover from the financial blow this crisis will cause. I suspect our government will suggest the opposite in the future. We'll just have to wait and see...
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