GST dropped 1% down to 6% on Saturday
and I am now able to calculate 1% of any amount in my head, because Winger didn't change our cash registers over to reflect the new tax amount. He may not have even been aware of the change, but somehow every customer that came into the store all weekend knew about it and they were all diligently checking their receipts and demanding redress of the 1%. (Well, the Methane Bomber didn't know about it or if he did, he probably figured it was worth the 1% to get the hell out of Dodge.)
I have to admit it's a great sneaky PR move on the part of the Conservatives. It just sounds so good: GST down from 7 to 6%! Cowabunga! Happy Days Are Here Again! Even people who don't really benefit from it will remember this on Election Day. In reality, the 1% cut doesn't add up to much: it's only on big-ticket items like appliances or cars that you'd even notice the difference. A $900 fridge now costs $891. Okay, how many fridges do you buy in a week? I bought one 2 years ago, and 15 years before that. (As for cars, I always lie about how much I pay for them, so it's a non-issue.) The cut just doesn't make much difference in the day-to-day stuff, the stuff you actually spend money on all the time. A $1 cup of Timmy Ho's coffee yields an impressive return of 1 cent. A $40 restaurant dinner: 40 cents. As with any sales tax cut, the more money you spend, the more savings you realize. So as usual, the Conservatives are giving a little giftie to people who can afford to buy lots of stuff, and kind of, oh I don't know, ignoring? the people with not much money.
Monday, July 03, 2006
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