TC sends Collection Agency after me

[crazy_aviator]

There are taxes for services rendered , then there is outright THEFT ! Look at the alcohol tax ,, only a small portion goes to mitigting any addictions and costs involved , the rest is an ILLEGAL governmental income for NO services rendered. Tobacco tax and gas tax is a part of the SAME illegal scheme

[Hornblower]

Nice one ... Dredging this up on the anniversary of our hard fought battle for independence ... Oh right that wasn't us. We were just given the right to form our own colonial government because it wasn't worth it for the British to come hereto collect the taxes anymore.

In any case what if told you that about 3 or 4 doctors spent hours reviewing every medical fitness report; would you think you were getting your money's worth. BTW, those doctors make $200k a year. That means the feds spend about $200 to$1000 dollars to make sure that you and all Canadians are safe every time someone goes for a pilot medical ...awesome; I feel so safe!

[flyinthebug]

There are taxes for services rendered , then there is outright THEFT ! Look at the alcohol tax ,, only a small portion goes to mitigting any addictions and costs involved , the rest is an ILLEGAL governmental income for NO services rendered. Tobacco tax and gas tax is a part of the SAME illegal scheme

+1!
I have a real problem with gas prices. I have attempted to follow the markets and watched oil prices. I noticed that back a few years ago when they began to condition us for gas over $1.00 per litre...I watched them slowly change signs to 4 digits from 3. Oil continued to rise in price, and Harper said we could count on paying an amount equal to a barrel of oil. Oil peaked at around $140 a barrel and we saw $1.35- $1.55 per litre at the pumps.

Then prices of crude started to drop...but pump prices remained high. They started to lower them (dangle a carrot) and provided more conditioning us for the higher priced fuel (because after 3 months of gas at $1.45 a litre, suddenly $1.10 looks pretty good!). Now we are at a stage where oil hasnt been over 96$ a barrel for about 4-6 months now...and yet the prices at the pump continue to rise rather than fall. No one even bothers asking anymore how much oil is a barrel, because it really has no bearing at all on how we are raped at the pumps.

My wife drives 48 km each way to and from work everyday. We get 27 MPG with her car and it costs us $400 a month just to send her to work. Oil is 96$ a barrel and prices at the pumps are $1.35 in my part of the world...meanwhile, we are closing refineries (sp?) in our country and sending MOST of our oil down to Texas for refining...then it gets shipped back. Some is still done in Canada, but they should be opening more refineries and not closing them!

TC is taking $55 from many of us who dont have an employer paying our medicals. I was fortunate to have that perk in many of my positions during my career, but alot of pilots dont. Its another cash grab from our Government so the Bank of Canada can continue to shine and turn out guys like Carney, that the Brits fall to their knees in his presence. He is going to save the UK as he saved Canada. Yes, off the backs of the tax paying citizens.

Rant over.
Fly safe.

[Diadem]

I have a real problem with gas prices. I have attempted to follow the markets and watched oil prices. I noticed that back a few years ago when they began to condition us for gas over $1.00 per litre...I watched them slowly change signs to 4 digits from 3. Oil continued to rise in price, and Harper said we could count on paying an amount equal to a barrel of oil. Oil peaked at around $140 a barrel and we saw $1.35- $1.55 per litre at the pumps.

Then prices of crude started to drop...but pump prices remained high. They started to lower them (dangle a carrot) and provided more conditioning us for the higher priced fuel (because after 3 months of gas at $1.45 a litre, suddenly $1.10 looks pretty good!). Now we are at a stage where oil hasnt been over 96$ a barrel for about 4-6 months now...and yet the prices at the pump continue to rise rather than fall. No one even bothers asking anymore how much oil is a barrel, because it really has no bearing at all on how we are raped at the pumps.

My wife drives 48 km each way to and from work everyday. We get 27 MPG with her car and it costs us $400 a month just to send her to work. Oil is 96$ a barrel and prices at the pumps are $1.35 in my part of the world...meanwhile, we are closing refineries (sp?) in our country and sending MOST of our oil down to Texas for refining...then it gets shipped back. Some is still done in Canada, but they should be opening more refineries and not closing them!

TC is taking $55 from many of us who dont have an employer paying our medicals. I was fortunate to have that perk in many of my positions during my career, but alot of pilots dont. Its another cash grab from our Government so the Bank of Canada can continue to shine and turn out guys like Carney, that the Brits fall to their knees in his presence. He is going to save the UK as he saved Canada. Yes, off the backs of the tax paying citizens.

Rant over.
Fly safe.

First, that's less to do with some collusion between the government and oil companies than it is to do with inflation. Things cost more as time goes on, and people make more money to balance it out. Ideally, our economy would have zero inflation, but since that would put us perilously close to the horrors of deflation, it's better to have a slow, steady inflation. Our grandparents remember when a house could be bought for less than $10000, but that doesn't mean there's an enormous conspiracy between the construction industry and the government (outside of Quebec anyway); things will inevitably cost more than they used to, and complaining about it makes you sound like a curmudgeon.
Second, refineries cost billions of dollars, and it's not economical for oil companies to build them in Canada. If they did, they would pass the cost onto the consumer, and the gas would end up costing the same anyway. It's all well and good to argue for the oil to stay in Canada, but if the government stepped in to build refineries wouldn't our taxes go up to pay for them?
Third, there is no direct correlation between the price of crude oil and refined petroleum products. There isn't even a single price for crude oil; it varies from type to type and the location of origin. Most of the prices shown on the news are for products from the Gulf of Mexico, which doesn't cost the same as Alberta oil. Refining techniques vary between types of oil, and shipping costs add a significant amount to the final price of Canadian oil. Most is sent south by train, refined, and returned north by train, which is exponentially more expensive than using a pipeline. Approval of the Keystone XL would lower prices more significantly than a tiny tax cut.
Fourth, where do you think your "illegal" taxes go? Do you imagine members of Parliament have rooms in their homes filled with piles of cash, and they rub it on themselves in glee? In exchange for paying those taxes you get roads, fire fighters, police officers, health care, education for your children, flight services, air traffic control, search and rescue, Coast Guard, military, and myriad other services which directly improve your lives. Everyone wants something for nothing, but unless you're willing to actually give up all those things and more, stop complaining about having to pay for them.

[AirFrame]

@Diadem: hold on a second... Don't go lumping flight services and air traffic control into that list... Yes, we pay a tax on our fuel that is supposed to go towards those things, but that tax hasn't been paying for them since NavCanada took over. That tax money now goes to "general revenue", and we pay Nav Canada separately each year for their services. Double taxation!

[flyinthebug]

Fourth, where do you think your "illegal" taxes go? Do you imagine members of Parliament have rooms in their homes filled with piles of cash, and they rub it on themselves in glee?

Well, I guess ive been dressed down on this one.

In answer to your question...not MPs but Senators maybe?
Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, Mac Harb, Rod Zimmer just to name a few in the past year
...and those few combined owe us about 310K, and thats just one tiny arm of our government.

Our defence Minister (Peter Mackay) takes his family on vacation in government helicopters. Other MPs just bill us around 80K to take a government jet to Florida for a weeks holiday with his family.

We are living in a time of the highest level of government corruption scandals worldwide. Countries are toppling governments all over the place, and you say its just inflation? Lol ok. We were paying around $0.75 a litre in 2006 and by 2008 it hit $1.50. Thats some pretty serious inflation wouldnt you say?

Obama is killing US citizens with Drones ,and no warrants/judge/Habeas Corpus necessary. The President is now a dictator through his executive orders. Canada is always just one step behind the States in everything. This is no different. Our democracy has become a joke and were more and more like Soviet Russia with each passing week. You keep believing what the government is feeding you my friend. You are right, I was wrong and my government is always looking out for me. My bad.

Approval of the Keystone XL would lower prices more significantly than a tiny tax cut.

Now this I agree with.

[kevinsky18]

Nice one ... Dredging this up on the anniversary of our hard fought battle for independence ... Oh right that wasn't us. We were just given the right to form our own colonial government because it wasn't worth it for the British to come hereto collect the taxes anymore.

In any case what if told you that about 3 or 4 doctors spent hours reviewing every medical fitness report; would you think you were getting your money's worth. BTW, those doctors make $200k a year. That means the feds spend about $200 to$1000 dollars to make sure that you and all Canadians are safe every time someone goes for a pilot medical ...awesome; I feel so safe!

I honestly hope this is BS. I pay a fully qualified and licensed doctor who was approved by TC to be their representative. If he says I'm good to go then that should be it.

Unfortunately I do not doubt we pay a bunch of other doctors in TC to do this redundant work but I do not believe they actually do it other than to the extent to rubber stamp each one.

What is there to review? I've been getting medicals for 20 years. It's all very straight forward mostly yes or no questions. And if you answer the wrong way on any one your examiner is going to flag you anyways. I've probably been to 10 different doctors. Sometimes when I'm seeing a new doctor I forget about an ailment I previously had or remember one that I hadn't reported before. Not once has TC come back and noted the discrepancy.

The only time TC is going to take a close look at your medical is if your examining doctor asks them to give it a second look for whatever reason.

[Doc]

I have never, ever paid the 55$ to these bandits. Never have. Never will. I get the bill, I toss it.

[EPR]

I never used to pay it directly because it would always get paid from my tax refund every year.

[trey kule]

Just a thought, but does not each province have a provincial ombudsman?

Tc claimed the money was to go somewhere it has not being going, and has managed to convince the CRA to act as their enforcers to collect it.

Perhaps someone who wants to do some good for aviation should provide their ombudsman with the proper documents, and file a compaint... At about $500k a year or so, a class action should be to the tune of about $10 million plus. I would think there is soe sharp tax lawyer who might take that on contingency, and I suspect getting people to join in any such action would not be a problem

Nothing is going to change by whinng about it.

[captcrunch2013]

Just after the fees came in, a divorce put me out of aviation for quite a while.
Many years later, I went to buy a house and suddenly discovered I owed TC for
processing my last medical. The $55 or what ever it was, I paid it and they
cleaned the record in hours.

One phone call and it was all fixed up very quickly.

These $55 fees', appear to be overcharged but is in line with what other
countries charge.

[shitdisturber]

These $55 fees', appear to be overcharged but is in line with what other
countries charge.

I don't know if I'd go that far. I get a bill for $55 every six months from TC, for the same period with my FAA license I receive no bill whatsoever.

[co-joe]

I just block calls from:
705-805-0821
250-940-0097
604-336-8373

last year I blocked calls from:
705-805-0820
613-686-3496
289-271-1389

and the year before that I blocked calls from
800-605-7291
780-666-0972
604-800-6401
905-963-0352

It's a pretty labour intensive game. But kind of a sick/fun one in a weird way. I've made it my life's goal to keep that $55.

[justwork]

Never paid it, never will. They said it was for something it wasn't. They're the crooks for continuing to bill. I pay my doctor over $100, what the hell is TC doing that they need to charge me almost half of my medical cost - the doctor stamps the book, TC just documents that it's been done, they never went to med school so how can they charge so much. I've also never had the money taken from the tax return, and never had a call. It's been 50 days since my last PPC, no sticker, wondering if they're holding it hostage for the hundreds I "owe" them.