Ontario drops the 'eco-fee' but at what cost?

Mother Earth - Eternally Playing the Fool

19/07/2010 11:34:00 PM

by Daniela Syrovy
Ontario drops the 'eco-fee' but at what cost?

As Ontario ushered in the much debated and hated HST, another fee snuck onto some people's receipts. This all happened July 1st - a Canada Day gift to the Ontario population. Prior to July 1st the hubbub was all about HST. Our poor eco-fee got little, to no press. It just snuck in. This surprise fee upset most and media began to report it as another government tax grab.

When it was discovered that you would pay the eco-fee on top of the HST people were enraged that it was a tax on top of a tax. As of Tuesday morning the government has dropped the fee. All this talk about ‘eco' and tax had me craving a good read so I visited the Stewardship Ontario website (the organization responsible for the eco-fee) to learn about fees and taxes and what all the fuss was about. It turns out the eco-fee was most definitely a fee and not a tax. The fees collected for Stewardship Ontario would go towards improving existing hazardous waste disposal programs, supporting new programs and all things related to the safe and responsible recycling and reducing of nasty waste.

http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/mother_earth_-_eternally_playing_the_fool/8f8a8ec9

 

Blame canada.....................

 

For what?

 

fuck tax

 

Yea, this tax was bullshit. If they want to collect for that reason, they should tax the billion dollar companies who manufacture the stuff.

 

This tax was idiotic.

I purchased a webcam a few days ago from The Source. The EHF was $2.75. At first I didn't think anything of it until I got home.
Tried looking on the internet for info but found zilch.

Then I saw another webcam on sale so I decided to give that one a try. This one was at Future Shop. So I expect to pay the $2.75 EHF. Instead it came up as $0.40.

When I returned the webcam to The Source, they weren't really sure about the fees and suggested I email head office, which I did. Apparently that is what they were told the fees were, though admitted it was wrong.

If your going to add a tax like this put some thought into it first. They probably brought in millions just on screw ups from stores having no clue what to charge.

Plus it's fine to pay this fee, but where do I bring my old electronics? I just end up putting it at the curb, which they won't take, therefore forcing me to dump it illegally into a dumpster.
At least provide multiply places in cities to take old waste that has a tax.

 

One more thing...

For a premier who said "No new taxes" (twice), he sure has added a lot of new taxes.

Health premiums, HST, EHF...I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Liberals are shooting themselves in the foot too much as of late. The Ontario Liberals screw people over with taxes and bans.
Federal Liberals have one of the stupidest individuals as their leader.

It's actually enough to make me think NDP next time round :\

 

^^^

and where does the collected electronics go????...they sell it to poor countries where they salvage the small amounts of precious metals by any means possible....usually in a non-environmentally friendly way

 

Yea, apparently every store was charging different eco-tax fees than everywhere else. No two stores charged the same amount.

I voted NDP last time. The Liberals and Conservatives have had 143 years of running the country. It's time for something different, even if it is a little inexperienced.

 

Then they put their prices up...and you might not know if it is double what they are being taxed.
Atleast it seems this way was a little transparent.

 

Companies will always continue to up their prices. Regardless of a new tax, and who is being taxed.

Ignorance is bliss in this sort of case. You know?

When I buy beer at the 'Beer Store' they charge me tax and deposit.

When I buy the exact same beer at the LCBO the tax is hidden into the price, so I pay what it says on the shelf. Customers like that. That veil of simplicity.

Also, this wasn't a matter of, "Do we tax the company or the customer?"
This was us paying more on most of the things we've always bought. It wasn't a matter of placement, but of more money. And right after HST kicked in on July 1st in Ontario and British Columbia.

 

I don't get you.
You said why not tax the billion dollar companies.
Ok, they get taxed and you don't.
How do the billion dollar companies recover this money?
They put the prices up.
I was just saying what would happen if you got your way, rather than what was going on in reality.

Ignoring the fact not all companies that might be taxed (or charged) are billion dollar companies.
I won't say the cliched "ma and pa" companies, but you know what I mean.

I guess so.
But I'd still like some transparency.

 

this tax would have driven you insane Odon...different amounts on every item and every store could make up their own amount....surprise amounts that you dont even know until it gets rung up on the register

 

I understand what you are saying. All I am saying is that if anyone was to be taxed, it should have been them, not us. If they turn around and recover the cost by charging more, that's fine because that is more than expected, but we do not need another tax from this shitty government of ours. This and what BBAD said above were the two biggest problems.

 

Really? I'll look more intently at this.

Ok, I get you.
Fair enough.
You think the people making the things you buy should be taxed (charged) for making something you want? (I didn't mean that quite as harshly as it sounds).

I get what BBAD is saying, but that's another matter.
Regardless of who is charged these items are going to be recycled.
That's an issue about what happens to these items not who is paying for them to be taken away from your curb, imho.


I think this is a complicated one.

 

Yes I do. Because we are made to be dependant on those things. Take someone like BBAD. He would probably spend literally thousands over the years in the tax alone on automotive fluids. Is it his fault he needs those things to do his job? He's not the one who makes it so that people are depandant on oil, and other pollutents. If this tax is some form of moral retribution (which it seems to be) than we should not be held accountable, for we're just the herd, not the shepard who collects the pay check.

 

Mmm, that argument kinda works with certain items.
It does not work with many other items that you don't actually need but want. Nobody sits in an empty room with only a duvet to keep them warm, do they? (well, not if they do not have to).

 

No, but there's a person for everything. Whether it's automotive fluids, welding, painting, electronics, etc. This tax affects everyone in some way, and I don't think that it is the people who it should be imposed on. It's not a matter of money, but one of principle.

It isn't a shirking of responsibility, we pay taxes, recycle, compost, etc. This is just another bullshit cash grab like they're doing here in Ottawa with public transit. Trains, buses, bus lanes, new railroads in different directions. It's unnecessary bullshit cash grabs.

Ottawa had to make up for the self-imposed bus strike in the middle of last winter so they upped the price of passes by $15-$20. They made us pay for their screw up.

 

You say that, they say this:


MYTH: The eco fee is a “hidden” tax grab and an attempt to extort money from “struggling families” already hit by the GST.

FACT: The eco fee is not mandatory nor is it a tax – stewards have the option to pass the fees they pay Stewardship Ontario on to consumers. As one of the costs of doing business, the eco fee may be reflected in the product’s sticker price – in which case the consumer would be none the wiser. Or it may be itemized on the cash register receipt and added to the product price at checkout. In either case, none of the monies collected in the form of eco fees go to government or Stewardship Ontarioe costs of doing business, the eco fee may be reflected in the product’s sticker price – in which case the consumer would be none the wiser. Or it may be itemized on the cash register receipt and added to the product price at checkout. In either case, none of the monies collected in the form of eco fees go to government or Stewardship Ontario.

Who is right?

 

That part I agree with.

They don't go to the government? Where do they go?

Common, Odon, you're an intelligent man. Why would they call it quits on the tax after a few days if they didn't know that it was a bullshit cash grab?

The money went towards the proper recycling and disposal of...



So, this tax was going to be an economic breakthrough...No. They did some math, figured that this tax would never cover the recycling/disposal plan that they never had in the first place, listened to the angry mob of Canadians, and realised that they were out of ideas and that their bullshit was starting to smell ripe.