Converter bolts...

'02 Accord 4dr. in at dealer getting some work done - new LR caliper and
front sway bar links. Service writer says the mechanic noticed that the
converter bolts were rusty. $108+tax (13%) For bolts.

I like my bolts rusty.

a

 

13% sales tax? What a government rip-off! Storm the king's imperial castle
and demand a rollback to something fair...

 

Are these the spring bolts? If so, they tend to get really thin once the
rust eats away at them for long enough. This is possible in a car that's
had 7 eastern-Canadian winters under its belt. If the bolts break, the
exhaust aft of the cat can fall down get damaged.

I'd ask the Service Advisor to show you what they look like.

 

I believe so - but I'll do them myself for much less $$.

a

 

Well, we *do* get free healthcare...

;0)

a

 

Then don't buy cheapo aftermarket ones.

I think you'll find it's the parts that are the bulk of the price you were
quoted.

 

That "free" health care is awfully expensive.

Taxes that go towards health care are a BIG reason Canada's standard of
living is 75% that of the US.

 

You bet.

But it's not technically entirely a "sales tax". The OP lives in the
Canadian province of Ontario. 8% of that 13% is a direct sales tax by the
province (state). The other 5% is a federal goods and services tax.

That may happen sooner rather than later.
The current tyrant...Premier, sorry...is not too popular just now, and
there's an election coming soon. (A Canadian Premier is equivalent to a US
Governor, but with **WAY** more power.)

 

Point of order! Nova Scotia. ;0)

The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is administered by the federal government
and applies to all goods and services with some exceptions. It combines the
federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5 per cent and Nova Scotia's
"value-added" tax of 8 per cent.

Quotes around "value-added" are mine.

a

 

Well then so are taxes that go toward the debt, and education - they are
significant expenditures for government.

Who uses "standard of living" anymore?? Not even Economists. Standard of
living is just GDP per capita which is not an accurate measure because it
does not differentiate between consumer and capital goods; it does not take
income distribution into account; it does not take account of differences
in the economic goods and services that are not measured in GDP at all; it
is also crippled by the vagaries of translating income measures into a
common currency for comparison.

GDP - the sum total of goods and services sold in a country. Hmmmm, you
think the *massive* amounts of money spent on defence in the US (on a per
capita basis) might skew the USs GDP up a tad? The US accounts for more
than 50% of global military spending, but don't have quite 50% of the
population of the planet, so this tends to skew standard of living.

That healthcare system is a big part of why Canada consistently ranks in
the top few countries to live in (in non-Canadian studies):
http://www.mercer.com/qualityofliving

Are we perfect? Far from it. But we're pretty damn good.

a

 

I sit corrected.

Ontario is scheduled to have an HST as of next April or something like
that. The new HST means all sorts of stuff (services, specifically) that's
currently exempt from the sales tax will be roped into the new HST.

Tyrant McGuinty will probably lose his job over it too. I hope.

So NS has a provincial value-added tax and not a sales tax? Then you have a
/double/ value-added tax! The federal GST is officially also a value-added
tax.

Time for a Tea Party, I say.

 

I sure hope so too. I still can't believe that the Ontario electorate was
so unbelievably stupid to re-elect him in 2007 after all the crap he pulled
during his first term.

 

The Hair-ball Skeleton Tax (AKA Harmonized Sales Tax, HST) is scheduled to
be puked on Ontarians July 1/2010 (if it's legislated).

8% more on gasoline, heat, electricity, labour, etc.... this is what the
people of the Province Of Ontario get when Premier Dalton Mcguinty starts
barfing-up all those kittens he ate. Empty pockets and furry bones all
over the place.

 

(Micheal C. Jordan) wrote in



I know why. There was no opposition.

I'm hoping this Hudak guy will at least have a brain, unlike John Tory, who
literally couldn't think of even /one/ thing McGuinty did that he disagreed
with, when interviewed by the National Post during the last election.

The labor part is the worst. Your tax bill will increase dramatically as
labor becomes subject to sales tax. For example, these things are currently
exempt from PST for their service portion: tax preparing services,
hairdressing, auto repair, plumbers, electricians, lawn care... the list
goes on and on.

Tyrant McGuinty never met a regulation he didn't love, or a tax he didn't
love (but would never actually call a "tax").

 

When I'm behind the wheel of my Honda, I'm thinking my standard of living is
pretty damn good.

 

The rest is "waste, fraud and abuse", anyway...