More Dalton McGuinty Sneaky Tax Grabs

[scribblet]

Boy, Dalton's at it again, his nose can't get much longer.

http://www.torontosun.com/Money/2006/04/21/1543641-sun.html

Fri, April 21, 2006

Dalt, you little sneak

Hidden behind a 'What's New' web button, McGuinty quietly jacks despised land transfer tax

By STAFF

Of all the sneaky, back-handed, greedy tax grabs.

Dalton McGuinty's done it again.

This time it's the hated land transfer tax that's going up in a secretive move that not even the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association knew about.

It took an astute law clerk in a Mississauga real estate law firm to notice the March 31 tax bulletin on the finance ministry's website under "What's New" and alert me.

And what's new is buyers of new homes and condos will be paying more in land transfer tax as a long list of upgrades and extras, including Dalton's Smart Metres, will now be added to the purchase price and taxed.

Even more hideous -- buyers will now be paying tax on tax, as the taxed purchase price will now include an obscene list of levies which already hit new homes.

[geoffrey]

What are smart metres?

Our local gov. in Calgary just imposed a sizeable levy on home building too. Where there is money to be made, you'll be sure to see the government up to its elbows in it.

[Argus]

What are smart metres?

Our local gov. in Calgary just imposed a sizeable levy on home building too. Where there is money to be made, you'll be sure to see the government up to its elbows in it.

A smart meter is an electronic gizmo which will help you understand exactly how much electricity you are using at any given time. The theory is this will then enable you to save money by using less electricity, and using it in off-peak hours where rares are lower.

In theory.

In reality, the test homes managed to save, by rescheduling laundry to midnight and such, about $4 a month on their electric bill.

The smart meters will cost us about $500 each. Therefore, if you really follow through and eagerly use the meters to try and save electricity, you'll make up the cost of the meters in only about ten years.

My betting is the meters are manufactured by a company with close ties to Dalton Mcguinty as they're the only people who are going to be making money off this ludicrous idea.