Beer and All Dressed Chips
How to spend the perfect -10 degrees Thursday evening, you ask? Well you will require the following:
Beer
Clamato Juice (I am not a wimp!)
Space Heater
Giant blanket
Flannel PJs (Its FREAKING COLD!)
Favorite Chips (I like dill pickle, all dressed, or Cool Ranch)
When you have all these friends around your party is sure to be a drepressing success!
YouTube – The Greasiest Sandwich Ever – Epic Meal Time
‘Value Added Tax’ – HST
I am not big on weighing in on political issues, however I felt the need to become informed on the HST debate. As most of you may have heard, BC implemented HST in July 2010. There have been many controversies around the implementation and the political party in power, I am not going to comment on my gross disappointment on those topics, but I am going to share what I have learned so far.
To be honest I have not formally chosen a side, but have learned a lot about what the purposes of implementing a value added tax system (VAT) is. Harmonized Sales Tax is a form of VAT. Before I move on, it is important to keep in mind that the purpose to any taxation system is to raise revenue for government spending. Taxation is a necessary evil to ensure that we have health care, education, social programs etc. available to British Columbians. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a ‘good’ tax, but there are some that I assume would be better than others.
VAT has 3 major advantages I noted:
1) More equitable – it does not distinguish between tangible and non tangible goods. For example if you were to buy a book prior to July 1, 2010, you would be subject to both PST and GST, however if you were to buy that same book in the format of an E-book online, you would only be subject to one form of tax. HST does not favor one industry over another, both forms would now be taxed and treated equally.
2) Is meant to minimize cascading and double taxation. HST is meant to eliminate having to pass on the tax the businesses pay producing the product onto the consumer. HST allows businesses to apply for tax credits on most inputs. Which in theory, would mean businesses would not have to increase the cost of goods sold to the consumer. In the old retail sales tax model, business inputs were taxed and then pushed onto the consumer. The HST model should allow consumers to pay the cost of tax once. The product will be less costly to make and therefore savings should be passed onto the consumer.
3) Promotes International competitiveness and domestic prosperity. With the reduction of sales tax for capital goods for business purposes BC should see an increase in productivity and investment within the province. Also, with the reduction of sales tax for goods sold for export, the province will be more competitive in the international market. This should in theory allow to BC businesses to grow and foster new employment opportunities.
I do believe that it is important that we can be competitive with other provinces and countries, and that it is important to ensure that we have an economy that is healthy and creating jobs. If the HST can assist in providing that then perhaps it is not so bad.
I believe that in theory HST could work, however, I am not convinced that prices are falling as products become less expensive to provide to the consumer. The intent of this tax is to tax consumption, so those who have a lower-income are less likely to be affected by this sales tax as most essential goods and services do not have HST applied to them.
I am no expert on this matter, but I would like to make an educated decision on HST, please feel free to assist in my learning!
Click here to find a full list of what has been affected by HST :
Autum is upon us
It seems as though the summer flew by with little warning. There is no time like fall, it is warm enough to still enjoy a brisk walk in golden forests and yet cold enough to snuggle up with your favorite book, blanket, and tea!
I have recently begun to enjoy Ernest Hemingway, and just finished reading ‘The Sun Also Rises’, which was my book of choice over the past few weeks. I have currently begun reading ‘ Treasure Island‘, but am looking for my next great book love. If you have any suggestions let me know!
