Government gripes (Was: Re: Census Fun)

Dylan Griffiths wrote:

>
> But that's not the only problem. They could easily provide citizens
> with an Excel spreadsheet (which Gnumeric would probably open just
> fine) that can calculate my taxes for me, instead of requiring pen and
> paper.
>
No! F*ck the Excel spreadsheet. There is absolutely _no_ reason why
they couldn't hire some php/mysql lackeys (okay, maybe that's pushing it
a bit) to spend a month to build an online basic T1 filing website.
Maybe, they could leave off some of the more obscure forms -- I could
accept that -- but for the average "I have one T4, a few charitable
donations, and maybe an RRSP contribution" person, there is no reason
that they shouldn't be able to file for free on CRA's website. (Intuit
may not be happy -- tough crap.)

> A person should be there to supervise data entry, but there is
> absolutely no reason for the actual calculations to be handled by a
> fumbly sausage fingers like myself.

I heard a stat a few years ago... I think it was "80% of numbers keyed
into computers came out of a computer"

> Yea, I tick off the box "DO NOT DEDUCT ANY TAXES, I WILL MAKE LESS
> THAN THE MINIMUM" every year. Every year, taxes are deducted.
> According to the HR people at the companies I work, they are not
> allowed to not tax me unless I can get a personally signed letter from
> the CCRA.
>
In their defense, they are liable if they _don't_ deduct it, and you
fail to pay the tax you owe. The gubment has some rather harsh rules
about collecting debts... did you know, if I fail to pay my workers
comp, that WCB can request payment from my CUSTOMERS? (A bookeeper
friend experienced this.)

> How do I know fileyourtaxeselectorincally.ca is not some front-end for
> a phishing company? I only file taxes once a year, and I barely
> remember things from previous years because a whole year occurs in
> between. As is, I have to

Becuase you have to go to the (presumably SSL secured) website printed
on the CRA paper you got with your "online access key." I suppose
someone could mail out bogus CRA papers, but the fact I got two with two
different web address might set off some alarm bells. Add to that, the
media campaign with the website, and it should be fairly hard to dupe
someone into using the wrong site.

For that matter, once you authenticate yourself to the CRA site, it
could show you the name/address/birthdate they have on file for you.

Oh, wait... that's just about exactly how www.census2006.ca worked.
(They only had the address, though)

> play 20 questions with those damned CCRA people when I try to get them
> on the phone, since there's no public-key trust infrastructure setup
> (and, while thorough, these are 20 things you could easily find out
> about me if you were really interested in it -- just setup a good
> looking efile tax website online).
>
My favorite are the calls I get when I'm a couple payments behind on my
credit card bills:
(Phone rings. CID is either blocked, or 343-4195)
Me: Hello. Scott Here.
Them: Hello, this is CreditCardFinancial Calling. May I speak to Scott
Wald?
Me: That's Walde (wall-dee)
Them: Okay Mr. Walde, I have to ask a few questions to confirm to whom I
am speaking. Can I get your birthdate?
Me: No.
Them: Uh, why not?
Me: I have no idea who you are. You blocked your caller id. For all I
know you could be a scammer trying to get my personal information to
steal my identity.
Them: I'm from CreditCardFinancial and I have an important message for
Scott Walde, I have to confirm to whom I am speaking. Can I get your
birthdate?
Me: No. I already explained why.
Them: Okay. Then, can you call back at 1-888-555-6789 and ask for file
number 5432?
Me: How do I know that's really CreditCardFinancial's phone number?
(and so on until I get fed up and hang up.)

In fairness, a couple of times, the person on the other end asked me to
phone the number on the back of my credit card and quote a file number
they gave me.

No, I haven't got those calls for a couple years now.

ttyl
srw
Received on Wed May 10 23:40:22 2006