Seems pretty disharmonious to me...

I don't usually put links to petitions in the Breadbin. In fact, this will be the first one in my five plus years of blogging. But I'm going to sign this one myself...something else I don't usually do. Petitions, to me, are beyond useless. I mean, so you've got a hundred squillion signatures on something. Great. Now why, pray tell, do you think the government gives a fart in a high gale? This is Canada. Governments have nothing to fear from us, no matter what they do. Not when the first reaction to absolutely any misfortune, no matter how large or small, is the government's gotta do something!

So why am I signing this one? Because (a) I strongly agree with it and (b) I'd like to get some small psychological boost from saying I did. I'm under no illusions that "my voice will be heard"...I'm just, to reach for the low-hanging cliche, mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore....

Here's a small sampling of what the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) means for the average Ontarian family.

CABLE TV: If $60 monthly, yearly increase is $57.60

Oh, how I'd love to pay just $60/month for cable! Our satellite runs us $97...but we'll go with that number, anyway. After all, television, sorry to say it, is a luxury.

GOLF FEES: If $1500 yearly X 2, annual increase is $240

I don't golf, so I don't know if three grand is reasonable for a year's worth of golf for two people. But it actually sounds low to me. Still, if you golf in Ontario, prepare for the government bogey man.

GYM MEMBERSHIP for two: If $35/month, your annual bill will be $67.20 higher

You're working out the first month for Johnny Canuck!

HYDRO BILL (that's the electric bill, for my American readers): If $85/month, yearly increase is $81.60

Shocking, isn't it?

If you pay $800 each year for HEATING FUEL: presto! It's $864!

Does somebody prepare your income tax? If that costs $150 x 2 returns, ch-ching! Another $24, please.

Is that "tax on tax"?

Oh, here's a good one.RRIF/RRSP: On $400,000 family savings, an annual increase of $1,040.00. This is a new HIDDEN TAX of $52/$20,000 deposit, annually.

You get the picture. The HST will insinuate itself into your life in literally hundreds of ways, large and small. This in a country where, in my humble opinion at least, we pay far too much tax already, given the absurdly poor quality of services received. Ask Toronto residents how much they're getting in services right now.

The government suggests that this tax will actually result in *cough* *cough* savings which will *sputter* *hack* be passed on to the consumer. May I suggest that all that will be passed on to the consumer is a giant heaping helping of bovine excrement? I look at this list (which I've only excerpted) and see hundreds upon hundreds of dollars magically vanishing from my wallet each year. For nothing.

So--and just as an exercise in wishful thinking--.I'm going to go to

unfairtaxgrab.com and sign their petition. It won't do any good, but it might make me feel better for a few minutes.