http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/event/article/id/33638/group/Records/
We have a system in Ontario that is referred to by the Ontario Auditor General as to its 'revenue over expenditure'.
Perchance a tax grab ?
Go ahead, ask me.
Derek
__________
AUDITOR GENERAL 2009 & 2011 REPORT RE MGS’ ACTION PLAN
Eurig http://canlii.ca/t/1fqrm set out there must be a connection between a fee and a service or it is a tax.
69 In short, the Ontario legislature may delegate the power to prescribe an escalating ad valorem probate tax to the Lieutenant Governor in Council but it must do so in clear and unambiguous language. The present section authorizes the Lieutenant Governor in Council to prescribe fees, and unless and until the section is amended the charge to users for the relevant service must have some reasonable relationship to the cost of the provision of that service.
The AG's URL is: http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en.htm
From 2009 Report Page 148:
Other User Fees at Risk
Our field visits to the Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Transportation did not identify any large fees that we felt were at significant risk of being declared non-Eurig compliant. However, we noted that revenues collected by the Ministry of Government Services for certain registration services significantly exceeded the cost to provide the services by approximately $60 million, which is six times more than the costs to deliver them. At the time of our audit, the Ministry of Government Services had not established an action plan to address this issue.
From 2011 Report Page 343:
Our 2009 Annual Report also noted that the Ministry of Government Services was collecting revenues for certain registration services that were at risk of constitutional challenge because the rev¬enues exceeded the cost of providing the services by approximately $60 million, and it did not have an action plan to address this risk. The Ministry of Government Services has since completed a costing and pricing review of its fees as part of the 2011/12 Results-based Planning process and has identified potential remediation strategies, including the possible development of a plan to reduce the fees over time. We were informed that the Ministry of Government Services is currently working with the Ministry of Finance to develop a strategy to address this issue for consideration by the Treasury Board/ Management Board of Cabinet; however, no time¬table was provided for completing this.
Is the AG in need of a read through of Bulletin 2010-02 to see "the Action Plan" ?
“On November 18, 2010, the Ministry of Finance announced that the Ontario government had negotiated the principal terms of a proposed agreement to renew to its long-standing business partnership with Teranet Inc., by extending its exclusive licences to provide electronic land registration and writs services in Ontario for an additional 50 years. As part of the terms of the agreement fee changes will take place in 2015.”
