Archive for July, 2009

Posted on July 31, 2009 - by J Lane

BC’s HST and writing to politicians

This is going to be a bit of a long post, you’ve been warned.

The other day, I actually wrote to my MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) to express my concern over the Government’s proposed HST.  His response was a great reminder of why I never bother to write to politicians – it was a copy and paste of the Government’s press releases and talking points.  I’m going to post the e-mail I sent, and then look at the Minister’s response.  Here’s my message:

Hon. Minister Coell,

As a voter in your riding, a small business owner, and a father of  two, I must admit that I am extremely concerned and disappointed by  the announcement of the HST in British Columbia.  Despite the  attempted spin by your government that it is a positive thing, and  that it will save businesses money, I believe the exact opposite is true.

I develop web sites for clients in British Columbia and in other parts of Canada.  While I was previously required to charge GST of my clients, I am now unclear as to whether I will now have to charge
clients HST instead.  If the answer is yes, I can foresee a significant loss of business with those clients residing outside of  British Columbia; a sudden increase by 7% in my rates is ridiculous  (unless of course your government would like to see me absorb that  cost by lowering my rates).  Conversely, requiring me to only charge  HST of clients within BC adds additional administrative overhead.  I  can’t really see how it saves me money, regardless.

As a consumer, I’m appalled that previously non-taxable items (non PST  taxable items) will now be included in the HST.  I work part-time in the tourism industry on Mayne Island, and I can tell you that in that
area, we are feeling the pinch of the recession.  Numbers are  definitely off from last year.  I can’t imagine what logic concludes that by raising taxes on things like restaurant meals travel and  tourism will recover.  I have talked with other islanders who are considering vacationing outside the province, because it is less  expensive than being here.

I think that most disappointing is the HST on used home sales.  While  the real estate market is recovering in major centers such as  Vancouver and Victoria, rural locations are still in a slump.  I do  not have access to exact figures, but my feeling is that home sales on  Mayne Island over the last 12 months could easily be counted on two hands.  Inflating prices by 7% is not going to help that.

Minister Coell, I must admit that I am not a major supporter of the  Liberal Party in BC.  I have often criticized your government’s  handling of the ferry system, as well as your failure to assist us  with keeping the Miner’s Bay dock accessible to vehicle traffic (I  dread the day that an ambulance is hung up there and is unable to  deliver their patient for medical evacuation because of a misplaced  key).  I must admit, however, that during the last provincial election  that I thoroughly researched all political parties and candidates  within this riding.  I was extremely tempted to vote for you  personally because I received the impression that you are one of the
diamonds in the rough that is the Liberal Party.

Regardless, I wanted to voice my concerns to you, in hopes that the  Liberal government will re-think this potentially disastrous move.

I think I’ve got some valid points there.  Most importantly for my own situation: will I have to start charging my customers HST instead of the GST I currently charge?  I think the answer is yes, but I honestly just don’t know.

The response I received (with my own reaction in red):

Dear Mr. Lane,

Thank you for your email regarding the proposed harmonized sales tax (HST) .  I appreciate your concern, this is a significant tax change in British Columbia.  However, it is one that our government believes will benefit consumers and businesses alike.

More than 130 countries world-wide, including 29 of 30 of the OECD countries, have implemented value-added taxes. Value added taxes?  I don’t think any type of tax adds value to a purchase. In Canada 4 provinces have adopted the tax and Ontario recently announced that they would be implementing a federally administered HST. If I wanted to live in Ontario, I’d move there.  That aside, I don’t disagree with the PST — I think that sales taxes are better than income taxes given the choice.  The problem is that there is no uniformity in their application across Canada. With BC, six of Canada’s 10 provinces will have a similar sales tax by July 1, 2010.  BC will have the lowest HST in Canada at 12 per cent while all other provinces with an HST have a rate of 13 percent. Except for say, Alberta, that has an HST at 0%.  But we’ll pretend they don’t exist, that’s okay.

Adopting a HST eliminates taxes on productivity replacing them with taxes on consumption. This is great news!  I missed the press release saying that I would no longer have to pay provincial income tax!  Send me the link! This measure will reduce taxes on business investment by as much as 40 per cent or $1.9 billion annually. Sounds good, but how?  A sales tax that is charged to consumers at the point of purchase reduces taxes on business investment? It will dramatically reduce business administration costs by $150 million annually.  Again, how?  Personally, I’ll have to start adding an additional tax on to all of my invoices.  Unless I don’t have to charge HST on clients outside BC… then I’ve got 2 tax rates.  I can clearly see how that will decrease my administration costs by having to complete two separate returns! It will save the BC government $30 million in administrative costs annually – money that can be used to provide programs to residents of BC.  I think this is the first line of truth in the entire message.  Well, half truth.  I’m sure that the $30 million saved will not actually lead to any sort of noticeable improvement in programs. It will inject $1.6 billion in federal funds into the BC economy. Is this what’s referred to as a “kick back”?  Ignorant me.

For the average consumer harmonization will have little impact with respect to the purchase of goods and services currently subject to PST however, it will mean paying tax on goods and services currently exempt from PST. Well yes, I am capable of doing the math that 5% plus 7% is 12%.  My concerns were with those exempt items you brush over.  I can see how a $28,000 increase in price on a $400,000 “used” home (average price for Vancouver) would have little impact on consumers. Even with this increase BC would continue to have the second lowest overall tax burden for individuals and families as a result of the personal income tax cuts introduced since 2001. (Ah yes, and it’s done amazing things for our child poverty rate.  No wait.) The HST is being designed to protect low income earners in British Columbia.  Assuming that those low income earners don’t need their hair cut, to purchase affordable housing, or to eat in a restaurant. A refundable BC. Income Tax Credit will be paid with the current GST credit to offset the impact of the tax on those with low income.  That’s good news, but that could easily be done with the current PST.

If you have further question I would like to direct you to the Ministry of Finance website on the subject at www.fin.gov.bc.ca/scp/hst/. Thanks, but I think you’ve pretty much copied and pasted the contents here.  Who should I contact to have my specific questions actually answered?

Thank you once again for taking the time to make me aware of your concerns.

Murray Coell, MLA
Saanich North and the Islands
Toll Free:  (866) 655-5711
Phone (250) 655-5711
www.murraycoellmla.bc.ca

I know that Mr. Coell is a busy guy, and that it was just a staffer that replied to this message.  I’m not delusional.  It would have been nice if they even attempted to answer my questions/explain things better.

Update: I wrote a second post with some links to your options for opposing the HST.  Check it out if you want to get involved!

Posted on July 26, 2009 - by J Lane

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-26

• Wow, I *love* it when coda freezes up my machine. Such warm fuzzies. #
• Doing a survey for a client. Ah nostalgia of the University… #
• Damn just got a Google Voice invite, but not available in Canada #
• Should you use a Flash intro for your site? This workflow diagram should help: http://idek.net/KmO (via @erundle) (via @mike9r) #
• Boss told me to go hang out at the beach. Seriously.
  http://bit.ly/dhHJR http://twitpic.com/b5eoq #
• Installing brackets. Not fun. http://twitpic.com/bci3m #
• Just completed a 0.51 km hike with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/13tRLk #RunKeeper #
• If you follow me and I don't follow you back, don't take it personally. Just trying to keep the Signal to Noise ratio low… #
• Holy cow. Just noticed that #Mailmanagr has processed over 25,000 messages… That ain't bad! #
• I do believe that I may be… yes, in fact I am… crushing it!! #
• http://tr.im/tNTk – Probably the submerged rocks off Campbell Point. These boats always go too fast through there. #
• I wonder if they have to pay to clean up the sunken boat. Pretty close to the National Park where it went down. #
• Stop the HST. http://bit.ly/14i7CV #
• Mayne farmer's market. http://twitpic.com/blgfo #
• Really trying to remember why I waited so long to sign up for @beanstalkapp. It's awesome, their deployment/integration stuff rocks. #
• Weird sky (not in sepia) http://twitpic.com/bny75 #

Posted on July 19, 2009 - by J Lane

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-19

• Love Prowl for iPhone. Such a useful app. #
• It never rains, it pours (on Monday) #
• Checking out possible office space on Mayne. I might be falling in love http://twitpic.com/a9lv1 #
• RT @sandeepparikh "here we go. apparently we found our new messiah http://bit.ly/14hEgr" Oh for fuck's sake. (via @wilw) #
• Trying to try out Atrium, but the install just keeps pooping out. Gonna try from scratch one more time. #
• Would anyone really be upset if @techcrunch just stopped "publishing"? I haven't seen anything well written on there in some time. #
• The Pirate Bay is going to start charging a monthly fee. Good luck with that guys. #
• Great piece on creativebits: http://bit.ly/BuLSR
  how Apple.com would have looked in 1983 #
• One hell of a farmer's market this morning #

Posted on July 12, 2009 - by J Lane

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-12

• My kids are the definition of over-tired/cranky. One of those high speed ferries sounds good to me right about now. #
• sign of trouble: when you appear to care more about your client's site than they do. (via @feather) (via @jeffsmith) #
• Finally got Push working on my Jailbroken 2G iPhone (also, where's my 3GS that was supposed to be here over a week ago?) #
• Prowl for iPhone is awesome. Now I get notified when my transmission downloads are done. #
• Set the keyboard shortcut for "Paste and Match Style" to ⌘V for all apps. Apps without this still work as expected. (via @jakemarsh) #
• My wife is just awesome. Nothing more to say. #
• New 3GS is here. Not activated yet. Anytime now Rogers. #
• Any ideas on why I'm not seeing the Voice Control icon on my 3GS? Tried restoring, no love. #iPhone #
• Beautiful day today: http://twitpic.com/9wudl #
• I spy with my little eye something that is sticks…

  Is it the sticks?

  Yeah… #

• Just completed a 2.21 km hike with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/12hfYd #runkeeper #
• I love how when the GPS loses track of my position, it drops me on the mainland. Apparently I hiked across the straight this morning. #
• Trying to decide how much I need a dock for the iPhone. Is it worth dropping $55? #
• Holy cow. Lots of local business this year. Looks like I'll be starting in on some new projects soon. #
• Hey #Rogers if I've said no to your Rocket Stick twice already, calling me and offering it a third time (same deal) isn't going to work. #
• You can't share data between devices. No way I'm going to spend extra every month for a second data plan. #rogerstrainyoursalesstaff #

Posted on July 7, 2009 - by J Lane

CFFTP not returning a directory listing

In my Googling, I couldn’t find anything about it, so I thought I’d post something here.  It might seem painfully obvious to most ColdFusion developers, but my brain has been dealing with a head cold, and I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

I’m not sure if it’s true of all servers/situations, but I was running into a problem with CFFTP recently.  I could connect to an FTP server fine, and get a directory listing of the root folder, but subfolders weren’t returning anything.  There wasn’t an error returned, it just returned nothing.

Turns out what I was doing wrong was that you actually need to change into the working directory before listing it’s contents.  In retrospect, yeah, it makes sense, but it was something that confused me for an hour or so.

<cfftp connection="myConnection" action="changeDir" directory="/some/sub/folder/">
<cfftp connection="myConnection" action="listDir" directory="/some/sub/folder/">

Seems silly to me that it works this way, especially because you have to specify complete paths in all CFFTP operations.  It would be one thing if I just had to specify the complete path in the changeDir operation, and then listDir would just assume I mean the current working directory (the directory attribute would be optional), but it doesn’t work like that.  Same deal for getFile and putFile operations… have to specify the complete path.

Not the end of the world, just mildly annoying.

Posted on July 5, 2009 - by J Lane

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-05

• Watching PeeWee's playhouse with my kids #
• Good on @westjet for using Twitter, but their contest T & C needs some work: http://tr.im/q5Fh #
• Wow, 38 GB of Spamassassin logs (on a 50 GB drive). That could have been bad if I hadn't caught it… #
• Did my first kayak rescue tonight. It was lots of fun! #
• About to attempt inbox zero. Wish me luck! #
• doctype.com from the people who build @litmusapp looks like a really great idea. #
• Canada Day Thriller flash mob stops traffic, draws crowds with downtown dance tribute. http://tinyurl.com/lupq44 (via @timescolonist) #
• Going for a surfing lesson in Waikiki. Won't be the same without explosives. (via @grantimahara) #mythbustersgonewild #
• Man, there is a lot of poorly written software out there. Especially for Windows. #
• One step forward, two steps back all day #