Increased Fees no April Fools Joke

(Aired on April 1, 2010)

You may have seen a story in the Kamloops Daily News this morning announcing coin-operated water meters for the city. A funny story and of course, an April Fools' Day story.

But the rest of the news relating to money this April Fool's Day is no joke. In fact, it's a cruel scenario being played out as fees for a whole bunch of things are up today. Many of them affect the coast, but some affect all of us. B.C. Hydro rates are up over 9% today. Terasen Gas ups its rates 6%. If you take the ferry, use Transit at the coast, you'll pay more starting today. Overnight camping fees in provincial parks are up as much as $6 per night. You'll start paying PST on EnergyStar appliances.

What kind of message does that send about going green? Dig deeper in your pockets, folks.

And we're not done yet. The harmonized sales tax isn't far off, and the Bank of Canada is going to start increasing interest rates again in a month or two. The Banks, who take in billions and billions of dollars in profits every year, have already jumped the gun on that, raising many mortgage rates. Once you've got all the moths out of your pockets, start thinking ahead to what all this means. Individuals and corporations hurt by the global recession make less money, meaning less tax revenue for the government, but also the bigger chance for layoffs.

No wonder Canadians surveyed by the Royal Bank are pessimistic about things. How can they be anything but? I think a good stiff drink is in order to calm the nerves, but the government taxes that to death as well. It's not a rosy situation, despite indicators that show we're back on track for an economic recovery. It looks like we're getting that recovery off the backs of taxpayers, and eventually the taxpayers backs are simply going to give out. What then?