The Box Co.

Why I Loathe The Canada Revenue Agency

Here I am on the first weekend of my second practicum block with a whole pile of work to do, and what do I discover? The government is being very dickish about money, and I owe them $523.45 in back taxes.

Why? Because apparently I didn't qualify for some sort of tax credit that I didn't even apply for. I'm not 100% sure how this happened. We do our tax returns in one of those automated programs, and it must have selected something related to this tax credit for me. Somehow, I cannot help but feel that a tax program that prepares returns incorrectly and ends up costing me $500 + dollars plus the cost of the program itself should be discontinued, and its creators shot in the head.

What's worse than that? My father was given a little bit of a refund because they re-assessed his and determined he was eligible for more money in his refund. But then they tell him in a letter that this money is taxable on his next tax return.

What?

This is money that he should have received because they taxed too much from him during the last tax season. Just because they withheld it until this tax year doesn't mean it should be taxed again. It narrowly escaped being axed in one year, and now it is being taxed again. Isn't that double dipping, and - arguably - extremely fucking immoral?

I don't mind paying taxes. I understand that they support important goods and services. However, I am disappointed by a program that automatically prepares my tax return incorrectly. I don't approve of that, and if I knew it was that shotty, I'd prepare the return by hand. Sure, it is tedious, but my time in preparing the return myself is worth less than $500. Also, I'm not a fan of the government taxing me - a student - who is currently in the middle of five consecutive academic terms with no potential for earning money.

At least this years tax return will be empty. I've had no income. If those bastards try to tax me, I'll have to visit Ottawa a second time (against my better judgment), and kick the Finance Minister in the face.