Friday, November 9, 2007

Now I'm paying to be taxed?

So I got a bill from the City of Ottawa today for $35.00. The letter that came with it explained that the charge was for a “Name change” and was linked to my property taxes.

Still a little confused I phoned the City to clarify. I thought that my lawyer should certainly have paid this charge, whatever it was when the house was transferred into my name.

Not so.

The charge, it was explained to me, was an administration charge levied against me so that I could be added to the city’s tax roll.

“So let me get this right,” I say. “you are charging me $35.00 for a city service so that I can be added to the cities tax roll so that I can benefit from city services?”

The nice lady on the other end of the line sounded very tired when she agreed that my summary was correct.

I hate it when my money is stolen, but I hate it even more when it is stolen for no other reason than to administratively support a self-perpetuating bureaucracy.

So, in Ottawa now they charge you for the priviledge of being taxed.

So wrong...

On so many levels.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes.... it is indeed so wrong on so many levels. The nerve of some people eh?

Cheers,

MedTech.

Anonymous said...

Ooo'Brien! (Gerry Seinfeld emphasis added)

Garner As Mist said...

nbt, are you referring to Larry O'Brien? If you are, you are mistaken. This fee is not his doing but Chirelli's.

O'B is very business oriented and unlike his predecessor is much more conservative than Liberal. His (O'Brien's) problem currently is the number of wing-bat socialists in city council fighting his reforms at every step.