Because Mbeck asked for it

Ripped off by the government. Marlo got a tax return of several hundred dollars last year, but recently she got a letter from the government saying there was a mistake, and she owes them $400. My story is weak by comparison, but it still riles me.

I bought a pair of converse on ebay. I got them for $15.75 US plus postage for a total of about 21 American bucks. Cons go for about $60 Canadian in stores, so after you convert US$21 to Cdn$25, that’s a pretty good deal. But the other day I got a note from the post office saying there was a package with $17.60 due on it. I knew it was the shoes. I went to the post office to find out what the deal was. The guy who sent it wrote $15 for the value on the customs declaration form, but his one looks like a seven, so they charged me $12.60 in tax on what they thought was an item valued at $75 US ($90 Canadian) plus the standard $5 “handling fee.” Naturally the lady at the 7-11 postal outlet can’t do anything, but she told me about all the bureaucratic hoops I have to jump through to get my $17 back (and the handling fee is probably exempt). So I filled out the form, included a copy of the invoice from ebay, and even scanned in the package and printed out the scan so they could see buddy boy’s writing. I know it’s only $17 bucks, but it kind of defeats the purpose of searching for a good deal, plus I hate what it was “spent” on. Spending $17 on a friend or myself – great. Giving it to a government that already charges me for services that I rarely or cannot use – crap.