Canada is a Tax Haven: no death tax, no captial gains on homes and no jail if you cheat

Wesly Snipes is going to jail, for three years, for cheating on his taxes! In Canada, we are more practical, he would only go to jail if he didn't have the money to pay the fine.

 

Canadians, contrary to Americans, don't pay an estate tax (death tax). You can inherit your uncle's boat tax free. You don't pay a cent either if you manage to win something. Richard Hatch wouldn't be in jail if he had been on Survivor Canada (and was a Canadian Resident).

 

Someone gives you 1 million dollars more than you paid for your home, then that million is yours. Let others pay for the free health care and such. Even better, take all your money and leave the country, keep your citizenship and never file a Canadian Tax return for as long as you live. You can even come back for visits!

 

But if you do stay, rest assured that property taxes are much lower than the 4% they pay in New Hampshire ("live free" my arse). There are no municipal sales taxes (minus the occasionnal hotel and gas pump (Montreal and Vancouver). No need to purchase heath care insurance, althouth you might want to get a drug plan, as drugs are cheaper than in the USA, but not free. Oh, no TV tax like in the UK and the public broadcaster won't pester you for donations.

 

Small businesses are treated like royalty, perticularly when it comes to capital gains (and remember, no need to purchase expensive heath coverage for your employees).

 

You will pay significantly less on electricity in places like Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia. And Montreal's transit system is cheap to use ($66.25 per month). By the way, child care (aka day care) in Quebec is $7 a day...

It is Better to Be Poor: Ontario Premier McGuinty

McGuinty is a joke. You know it, I know it. He is using the oldest political trick in the book: blame others. Still, the fact that he is complaining that Ontario is comparatively rich makes me angry. By McGuinty's logic, it is better to be poor because you pay less tax. By McGuinty's logic, Ottawa and Toronto should separate from Ontario because Lanark County et. al. are milking them.

 

Here are serious suggestions to make the "have not" provinces richer, and Ontario poorer, without sending cash payments via equalisation:

 

-Move the capital's government jobs across the Ottawa river to Gatineau (You pay taxes where you live, not where you work. Still, more federal civil servents would chose to live in Quebec and pay taxes in Quebec).

 

-Remove duty from foreign made cars (there would be less incentive to buy cars made in Ontario, salaries in Ontario would go down, car buyers in places like NewBrunswick would have more money to spend locally, like on provincial taxes.)

 

-Make banking and telecommunication provincial jurisdictions. (More relatively high paying banking and telecommunication jobs in NB, PEI and Manitoba, fewer in Ontario).

 

-Impose capital gains tax on homes (by taxing capital gain windfalls in places like Toronto and Calgary, the federal government could reduce federal income and sales taxes across the country, allowing provinces to raise theirs).

 

-Add inheritances to income tax calculation (dito)

 

-Finance the employment insurance program via taxes instead of via premiums.

 

-Spend slightly more in the have not provinces (government jobs, make work projects, etc...) 

 

-As part of the employment insurance program, pay for people to move and or travel to Ontario and Alberta to find work.

 

-Allow Americans to work in Canada (and hopefully, Canadians in the USA). (In the Maritimes, fishing season does not include winter, and there are plenty of Americans who would benefit by working accross to border in Ontario).

 

So I say fine, let's get rid of the equalisation program. Might not be good for Ontario, or the country, but it might cut down on Dalton McGuity's whining.

 

My somewhat related posts:

-Lazy bums ;

-Irritating twits: Dalton McGuinty et. al. ;

-39 per cent of NB budget is federal cash! ;

-Ontario thinks BusinessWeek Readers are Brain Dead ;

-The Federal Government Should Not Give Money to Toronto ;

-John Tory is Trilingual ;

-Quebec Now Has Carbon Tax. Ontario Does Nothing ;

-Time For a Capital Gains Tax On Homes ;

 

-If I Ran Canada

Grand Theft Auto IV Will End Recession

Grand Theft Auto IV, perhaps the best game ever, will help end the recession plaguing the United States. Here is why:

 

The game is universally praised. Word of mouth will take over and every male between 12 and 45 will want it (60$). The game only works on Play Station 3 or Xbox 360. Both are about $400. Consumers will want to play the game as it was intended, in high definition. You can buy a good 24inch HD monitor for $350. You can buy a good 40inch TV in HD for $1000.

 

Having purchased the PS3 or Xbox 360, and a HDTV, consumers will want/need more games and movies to justify the $1000 to $1400 they just dropped on hardware.

 

Bonus, wives, girlfriends and daughters will receive/purchase items as a result of the new PS3 or Xbox360 in the house as household equalisation takes place.

 

There are few barriers to entry. 460$ is all you need. You lost your house and are now living in a cramped basement, not a problem.Your command of English is limited, that is OK. The only real barrier is that you must be interested in fast cars, sex and or violence...

 

-Grand Theft Auto IV at Top of All Time High-Rating List

-Mainly Raves for Grand Theft Auto IV
U.S. News & World Report, DC - 4 hours ago
What does it say about us as a society that a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, with its violence and sex, is a certain smash hit? It says a lot .

-Retailers ready for record-breaking 'Grand Theft Auto IV'

-For Gamers, the Craving Won't Quit
New York Times, United States - 9 hours ago
-Forbes

-A cultural event ... Grand Theft Auto IV
guardian.co.uk, UK - 9 hours ago
Yesterday, BBC technology editor Darren Waters pre-empted that sentiment on his blog. GTAIV felt "more like a cultural event than a marketing event,"

-Grand theft auto, The Godfather and the mother grundies
The Times, South Africa - 10 hours ago
IT's the biggest thing in computer gaming

-release of Grand Theft Auto IV could be biggest ever
Kansas City Star, MO - 12 hours ago
-'Grand Theft Auto IV' will blow you away
MSNBC - 12 hours ago

 

 

Blogs:

-Grand Theft Auto IV and Real-World Billions

-Grand Theft Auto IV: Art for alpha males

 

 

Antidote to Grand Theft Auto Lust

Antidote to Grand Theft Auto Lust

 

Yesterday you were saving up for summer vacation or badly needed home renovations, but today you find yourself looking for the best deal on a PS3 or Xbox360 (about $400) so you can fork over an other $60 on Grand Theft Auto, apparently the best video game of the century. If you are American, the government is making it worse by giving you $600 this week so you can stimulate the economy.  

 

Well, reading this nega-revue should help put things in perspective, especially if you have a PS2 or Xbox that you haven't touched in a while...

 

"The flow of the game basically goes like this: you watch a cutscene, someone in the cutscene says that someone has done them wrong, you're told they need to be taught a lesson, and then you get in a car and go teach them the lesson. At that point another cinema is triggered and the process repeats. ... it can definitely become a little repetitive.

 

"You'll probably be surprised to hear GTA IV has noticeably fewer weapons and vehicles on offer than GTA: San Andreas did. ... Yes, this means San Andreas' more unusual vehicles like fighter jets, hovercraft, go-karts and jetpacks are all absent. Don't expect to be wielding chainguns, flamethrowers or chainsaws either." (4) "The world itself is smaller than the state-sized San Andreas" (7) and in general the game has "a feature list that's a step back from its predecessors."

 

More here.

 

Please note, reading the nega-revue is a bad idea if you are looking for excuses not to buy it as a gift. Grand Theft Auto may actually be the best game this century and you will lose major (love) points if you convince yourself otherwise.

 

Hat tip to digg.com

It is official: Rogers Will Provide iPhone in Canada in 2008

According to Ted Rogers, his company has a deal with Apple to provide
the phone "later this year". Unfortunatly, this news wasn't sent from
his iPhone...

My sources at the Rogers Moncton call centre said that is the first
they have heard of it, so clearly later this year is not "next week".

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

DesignAday - Sent from my iPhone

http://designaday.tumblr.com/post/33177116

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Maclean's Clueless About Cell Phones

How ironic that a magazine belonging to one of Canada's biggest
cellular phone companies (Rogers) can publish something as factually
incorrect as this (May 5th, 2008, p40):

"...in the U.S., where cellphones are required to be GPS-equiped to
help locate people in emergencies"

Um, no. The iPhone, for example, is not GPS equiped.

Cell providers in the USA and Canada provide location to 911 services
by triangulation of cell towers.

GPS, by the way, is not so good if you are in a city with tall
buildings or with a roof over your head. On the other hand, when
hicking in the wilderness, don't rely on cell tower triangulation for
rescue.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Americans pay the most ever for Gas and convert to water powered cars

According to Zfacts, the price of gas in the USA, when adjusted for inflation, is higher today than ever! A Google ad on that site caught my attention. At least one company is offering water-fuel conversion kits! Now, granted, if people are stupid enough to buy SUVs (or cars that go 300 km/hr when the limit is 100km/hr) then perhaps there is a market...

Canada Should Aspire To Be More Like France

Canada should aspire to be more like France. Or perhaps Germany, where even Wal-Mart employees are unionised (unions are mandatory). Without the right to strike, the right to cause maximum inconvenience to your employer, what is the point?

 

It is no fun to be on strike, particularaly when you are a well paid employee (strike pay is usually independent of your normal salary). Pay public employees enough, treat them well, and they won't.

 

PS. I'm writing this at my private sector non-unionised job because I have nothing better to do, so don't give me that nonsense about unproductive unionised public sector employees...

 

-ttc strike as litmus test of progressive worldview

Francophones: evitez Dell

Francophones du Canada, évitez d'acheter des produits Dell avant de savoir d'où proviendra le service après vente en français. Après les fermetures à Ottawa et Edmondton, il reste à Dell le centre à Toronto...

iPhone available in only 6 countries, most popular in France!

The world is a big place, yet Time magazine's invention of the year, the iPhone, is only available in 6 countries: USA, France, the UK, Germany, Ireland and Austria.

Now, granted, we should be used to unavailable gadgets, Finland and Sweden don't market their products in Canada before they are successful in Scandinavia. And the various versions of the Japanese Walkman took a while before they crossed the Pacific.

Still, as we are subject to so much media from the United States, it is tough not being part of the chosen nations (ironically, the Irish, instead of being happy about finally getting the iPhone in March, are actually angry that it is now cheaper in the UK).

In November I predicted the iPhone would be a huge success in France. "Huge sucess" is hard to quantify. Still, the 8gig version is now more expensive in France than anywhere else, and yet when you factor in it's November release and the number Frenchmen , it is more popular there than anywhere else, including the USA! So I was right!

Feel free to contact me about my international market insights. My rates are cheap and satisfaction is garanteed.

And if Apple and Rogers ever do sell the thing in Canada, I submit they will have plenty of success in Quebec (especially if marketed with the Fido brand). Dito for the other romance countries. But for the love of goodness, Apple, please allow me to make a $ dollar sign using my Apple touch French Canadian keybord. When I press on it now, a Euro symbol appears. The other problem is that I can't make «French quotation marks». Anoying.

Is Apple Xenophobic?

Almost a year after launch, the Apple iPhone is available in the USA,
France, Germany and the UK. That is it. George Bush's coalition was
bigger for crying out loud.

And how is it that a product manufactured in China is not available in
China?

The availability is so restricted that people assume it is available
in Australia and Singapour (it isn't).

iTunes is available in more countries, but despite being the most
popular music seller in the USA, in most countries you can't use it to
buy music.

Home is easier than away, no doubt. The iPod touch is available in
many countries. Coudos for making a French-Canadian version available
in February (however, with the anoying bugs of having the € Euro
symbol come up when you press the $ dollar sign and not having the
French quotes).

So what gives? According to the New York Times, Nokia hires people to
go to places like Vietnam for market reaserch to better design
handsets. Vietnam ! And Apple is scared to sell the iphone in Canada
and Australia?

At least sell it in Finland (home of Nokia) and Sweeden (Ericson).

Think of the irony of using Canadian and Brazillian musical artists to
sell the iPhone and iPod touch in the USA but not making the products
available in their countries.

There is a recession in the USA, but Russia and Mexico are doing fine...

Hopefully, this xenophobia will be solved with the 3G (faster
Internet) version coming out this Summer.

Otherwise, I think Jobs needs to hire an other executive from Pepsi.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Economic refugees are refugees to

Economic refugees are refugees to. Wars are often caused by a lack of resources. Instead of only accepting refugees escaping war, wouldn't it make sense to accept economic refugees in order to prevent war?

We could send billions of dollars in aid to Haiti, but it would make more sense to allow some Haitians to move to places with more resources. And since we aren't sending billions of dollars to Haiti, we are simply allowing Haitians to starve and have Haiti go further into chaos. How moral is that?

Fired For Smoking At Work

"A Whirlpool Corp. factory in Evansville, Indiana, has suspended 39 workers who signed insurance paperwork claiming they don't use tobacco and then were seen smoking or chewing tobacco on company property. Now, some could be fired for lying, company spokeswoman Debby Castrale said." (CNN)

If you have seen Sicko, you know that lying on your insurance form is a bad idea. Especially if all you are saving is $500 a year!

A Madame Marois: Gatineau est situe au Quebec!

Pauline Marois (chef du Parti Québécois) veut que la séance du CRTC concernant l'élimination du service de nouvelles de TQS se tienne à la ville de Québec afin de montrer à Remstar, propriétaire de Télévision-Quatres-saison, que les nouvelles de TQS sont important au Québéc. Or, normalement, les séances du CRTC se situent à Gatineau (Hull), Québec! Est-ce que la ville de Québec est plus québécoise que Gatineau. Je souligne qu'il y a un député du Bloc Québécois élu de Gatineau.

Si les souverainistes veulent que les Québécois votent en faveur de l'indépendance de leur province, faudrait qu'ils travaillent à convaincre les fédéralistes. Par exemple, les non-Catholiques, les anglophones et les résidents de l'Outaouais (Gatineau)! C'est pas en disant aux Gatinois qu'ils ne sont pas des vrais Québécois qu'on va y arriver!

Pis Dell en francais? (Le centre d'Ottawa ferme)

À partir d'où sera offert l'aide technique en français de Dell? On vient d'annoncer que le centre d'appel d'Ottawa ferme ses portes. Les techniciens partent dès aujourd'hui. On avait déjà annoncé la fermeture du centre d'Edmonton.

 

Les solutions de rechanges en anglais ne manquent pas (Inde, Philipines, USA), mais d'où proviendra l'aide technique en français de Dell. Toronto? Ou est-ce que ce sera les sous-traitant habituel comme Sitel (à Ottawa, Montréal, Moncton)?

 

 

A condo is an appartment!

If you own your car instead of leasing it, you should get to call it
something else.

Sounds silly? Good. Now could we please stop calling appartments
condos! An appartment that is rented is identical to one that is
owned. Even worse, many of the condominium appartments are rented out!

A condo is an appartment. The fact that you pay money every month to a
bank (mortgage) instead of to an investment group (rent) is useless
information.

And for those of you who think that ownership is inherently good,
please make a trip to New Orleans or Cleveland, Ohio.

By the way let us stop subsidizing home ownership (by allowing, for
example, people to dip tax free into their Registered Retirement
Saving Plan (RRSP)) or, as in the USA, by making mortgage interest tax
deductible). And if you are lucky enough to make $500,000 in profit
from the sale of your home, well, you should pay income taxes on that.

Maybe then I'd let you call your appartment by a different name.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Canadian immigration: speak English or French or stay out

If you don't speak English or French, why on earth would you want to
move to Canada? More importantly, why should we let you?

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Moncton-New York Flight Not Viable

There are 70,000 people in Moncton and yet there are direct flights to
Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal and New York City.

1 flight per day to and from NYC. 8 flights or more to Toronto. And
there lies the problem. Despite the shorter travel time, it is usually
more convenient, and cheaper, to fly via Toronto. Especially if you
aren't going to NYC, but just there in transit.

In fact, you could argue in favour of closing the Moncton airport in
favour of bus shuttles to the Halifax airport.

Small planes with infrequent scheduals make sence when you are in
Nunavutt, but in Moncton, not so much.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

I watched Sicko, Now Raise My Taxes

I just finished watching Sicko, by Micheal Moor. It didn't cost me
anything as I watched it on the Movie Network (TMN). I like the Movie
Network because it is good value. If I'm watching a bad movie, I get
permission from my gilfriend and change the channel without feeling
guilty about having waisted $5. I can even change the channel to one
of the other 5 TMN channels (including one in HD).

Better yet, I can watch movies on TMN on demand. All this for $15 a
month. Some months it is totally worth it, some months, not so much.

Strictly speaking, I would save a fortune if I was an uninsured
American vs. a high taxed Canadian New Brunswicker. Granted, there are
plenty of contagious deseeses I'd be exposed to and I'd most certainly
have friends and family with huge medical bills/insurance fights, but
I would save a fortune. In fact, I'd probably have enough saved up to
cover a mild heart attack or a couple of months of kimo...

Sure, choice is great. But sometimes, the all included model (like at
Disney World) is better.

So please, raise my taxes and cover all those pills I might need some
day...

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Profit from Your Down Time

Over the last few months I have been participating in online surveys from the Angus Reid Group. Quite interesting, and you get paid to boot! No much mind you, but what the heck, we all have down time, and giving your opinion on world leaders is escapism if you ask me. I had fun reading the resulting article in Macleans and then realising, hey, I participated in that, so that's what the survey was for.

 

I haven't gotten money yet from Angus Reid, as they don't cut a check until you reach something like fifty dollars. But I'm close. I encourage everybody to participate in online surveys. Opinions matter to decision makers. You can make the world a more efficient place by giving decision makers and marketers accurate information (for example, did you know that Quebecer generally don't have a special meal at Thanks Giving!). Angus Reid is a reputable company and to date none of their online polls that I have participated in could be called push polling. The surveys are not at a Statistics Canada (a former employer) level, but close enough. And if enough people do these online polls, there will be less reason to annoy you by phone during supper or at the door when you are in the shower.

 

The money they give you should be tax free if you deduct (in your head) the cost of your Internet connection. If you are doing surveys at work, then not paying taxes on the revenue is harder do justify. That said, some (more and more?) of the surveys involve draws instead of cash payouts. As you know, there is zero income tax on winnings from contests in Canada.

 

Disclaimer, this particular post is motivated by the fact that I'll make a couple of dollars if you sign up with Angus Reid. This post accuratly reflects my opinions but the motivation to post those opinions here is, at least in part, pecuniary. Oddly, this is not against Google's Adsense terms of service for its referral program.

Can I recommend referral products to my users?

Sure - you're welcome to endorse or recommend the products you're referring on your site. However, our program policies don't permit you to encourage clicks on or draw unnatural attention to the referral units you're displaying on your site.

 

Recession proof pricing: time to spend

You can buy a brand new quality car for about $11,000 at Hyundai and
Kia.

Wal-mart has a $300 Windows Vista Acer computer for sale. $280 will
get you the greatest invention of all time (the iPod touch).

Granted, the above mentioned purchases will only last you a few years
before you have to replace them. Maybe you should stick your money in
a sock in case you lose your job. You know, because of the recession...

PS. Employment insurance is a maximum of $413 per week or 55% of your
salary, whichever is lower (and there is a two week deductible).

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Americans don't pay for bandwidth

Rogers will start charging customers this Spring when they go over the
limit (as low as 2GB per month), Bell and Videotron have been for a
while (Bell has lower limits in Quebec thanks to Videotron).

But what I find remarkable is that in the USA they don't!

http://gizmodo.com/346043/all+you+can+eat-broadband-is-dead-time-warner-to-charge-by-the-byte

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Rogers Wireless Giving iPod touchs To Employees

My source at Rogers informs me that the company's cell phone division
is now giving away iPod touchs to employees as part of a contest. More
importantly, photos of the iPod touch are posted all over the cell
phone section of the Moncton call centre and on the intranet.

Yes, it would be more exciting if Rogers was giving away iPhones or
giving touchs to all employees (instead of one or two as part of a
contest.). Still, the fact that Rogers is using the iPod touch to
motivate employees is quite interesting.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Blogging Is So Stressfull It Can Kill You: New York Times

A silly article in the New York Times reports that blogging is so stressful it can kill you. Wired Blog questions that premise.

 

I have to say, I blog to relax. Sometime it is out of boredom, when nothing is on TV or I'm waiting for something to do at work. My job is quite alienating, and I find changing people's opinions (or at least trying) is quite gratifying. The number of hits from my post about the evils of smoking from schools around the world or visits to my warning about TV out on the iPod touch/iPhone give me a sense of being useful, of having a positive impact on the world. Blogging makes me feel good.

Save Money, Replace Your CRT with LCD... NOT

I'm trying to justify dropping 1000 dollars on a wide scree HDTV. Unfortunately, saving the planet, or money, is not a justification. In fact, you know all those employers who replaced perfectly good CRT computer screens with LCD monitors, they can't count!

 

Maximum energy savings: 90 watts for CRT minus 55 watts for LCD equals 35 watts or 0.035 kw. Multiply by $0.10 per kwh and you get $0.0035 (a third of a cent per hour).

 

So devide the cost of replacing that perfectly good CRT with the LCD, say $200, by the savings per hour, $0.0035, and you get 57143 hours. Say you plan on using the screen 8 hours per day, so that is 7143 days. 5 days a week, that is 1429 weeks, or 27.4 years to recoup the money spent to replace the functioning screen...

 

But LCDs are flat, and if you splurge for one with good resolution, they could be easier on the eyes as they are less susceptible to glare. And the CRT will die, eventually, and if you don't have a spare in stock, you might have a non-productive employee for a while.

 

In summery, at equal price and quality, buy LCD. If there is a price difference of $50 or more (6.8 years to recoup), go for the CRT.

 

For the living room, if you are an avid TV watcher, and plan of living an other 100 years, replace your CRT TV with a LCD and you will break even...

 

Sorry.

The Government Does Your Tax Return

The government does Your tax return. That dream is reality in the UK. One page, tops. That is all you have to fill out. Think about it, the Canadian government gets a copy of your T4s. Why bother filling out a complicated form?  A form so complicated most of us need help.

Canada Should Expand Borders

Canada was on a roll between 1867 and 1905 when Manitoba (1870), British Columbia (1971), Prince Edward Island (1873) and Alberta and Saskatchewan(1905) "joined" Canada. Then it slowed down a bit with Newfoundland joining in 1949. But Newfoundland joined by referendum! Granted, they were being kicked out of the UK (at least financially), but Canada was chosen, by the people (51% vs 49%).

 

Why did we stop there? Sure, losing Quebec would be a drag, but why worry about that when we could expand Canada in all directions (well, not North)?

 

Population of Iceland (NATO): 313,000.

Population of Ireland (not NATO):  6 million

 

Greenland might also want to consider leaving Denmark (NATO) to join a country that has plenty of their Inuit cousins (that would be Canada). Or we could simply annex Denmark (population 5.4 million). The Turks and Caicos (pop 20,000) have had lobbying efforts to join the great white north. We could promise provincehood to Porto Rico.

 

Our polar neighbors of Sweden (NATO) (9.1 million) and Norway (NATO) (4.7 million) might be interested. Especially Norway which may soon run out of oil. Then again, Sweden doesn't have any...

 

We just signed a free trade agreement with Switzerland (not NATO) (7.5 million). Shania Twain might want to live in Canada again, bonus if she doesn't have to move.

 

New Zealand (4.2 million) might want to join Canada. We could at least ask. Portugal (NATO) (11 million) might agree to join Canada in exchange for not kicking out Portuguese citizens living illegally in Toronto.

 

Quebec has a population of 7.7 million. Time to get serious.

 

 

Places to Visit: I dare Yah

Go see the top ten list of places not to visit according to Hollywood. A clever list with screen caps. I've never been to Antarctica, although I know people who have, but I have been to Bratislava, Slovakia. Oooh. I even stayed in a Youth Hostel. Actually, it could have been an insane asylum making extra cash accepting backpackers. I was the only backpacker there. I was there before the movie Hostel came out, however, so I guess I lose bravery points.

No Carbon Tax, But Gas Tax Should Cover Car Insurance

Alternative title: Save two birds with one stone.

 

Gas Tax Should Cover Car Insurance

 

After contemplating the pros and cons to road tolls vs gas tax, I realised that much of the same apply to car insurance.

 

-People who drive fast have a higher risk of accidents, but also pay more in gas tax.

-Parked cars are rarely involved in accidents. You don't have to pay gas tax when your car is parked.

-The more you drive, the greater the risk. The more you drive, the more you spend in gas tax.

-Gas tax is efficient. You can't lie about how much you drive, which is (should be) the main factor in determining risk.

-Expensive cars use more gas, so driving one contributes more in gas taxes. Expensive cars usually cost more to insure.

 

Now obviously, taxing gas isn't perfect. However, in New Brunswick (and in some other provinces), insurance companies are forbidden from factoring age and sex, so why not go a step further and take the driver out of the equation totally?

 

Much of the risks of driving are shared. If you drive a heavy car, you are reducing your personal risk, but increasing the risk to others (especially to those driving light cars). Road conditions are also a huge factor. At present, there is no financial incentive to keep roads maintained, to put up moose fencing, to eliminate intersections or to put up medians. There would be a huge financial interest when the government pays every time there is an accident.

 

An alternate to a carbon tax

A carbon tax, as implemented in British Columbia, penalises everybody with the only benefit being, in theory, lowering BC's guilt factor when it comes to global warming. Covering car insurance would penalise people for driving, just like the carbon tax, but there would be a huge benefit, "free" car insurance. The way it is now, owning/leasing a car is expensive, the variable costs of driving are negligible. The cost per km goes down significantly the more you drive. By reducing the more or less fixed costs such as insurance and licensing and increasing the variable costs such as gas, there is a bigger incentive to drive less.

 

The flaw in this argument, of course, is that people who don't have a car are much less likely to drive, regardless of the price of gas. But aas car ownership is sky high, I think the insurance via gas tax has merits.

 

Your comments are welcome.

American drowns trying to sneak into Canada

American drowns trying to sneak into Canada. This is old news, but still just as striking. Especially when you have people googling "what is the best way to sneak into canada?"

iTunes tops the charts | RedEye | iPhone, Therefore I Blog

http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/iphoneblog/2008/04/apple-king-of-m.html

According to the above blog, iTunes now sells more music than Wal-Mart!

I-tunes is now the number one music seller in the USA! Sucks to be you
if you live in the many places where iTunes doesn't operate.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.