I got a nice little sucker punch yesterday when I arrived home from work. Revenue Canada has decided to audit me, so I have been reassessed as owing them over a thousand dollars for my Canada Pension contribution. Now this could all be a scam related to phone calls and subsequent conversations I had with an alleged representative, but everything has a ring of authenticity, plus, he asked only the appropriate questions, gave information and suggestions that only insiders at Canada Revenue would know, and did not ask for or demand any money, nor were threats made. He also at first, on my request on a voice mail message, communicated with me by mail, on all the appropriate stationery, using all the appropriate terminology.So far so good. Now, ten days later or so, I have this letter telling me to pay up in two weeks or they start charging me interest. They have also recommended that I could pay through my bank, which is what I did last year. That is actually the clincher for me, because they did not provide me with any account number, since this is something the bank provides as a direct service to the government. So, it's all pretty watertight, airtight even. I know that when I go to the bank today or tomorrow that they will take the payment from my chequing account and directly transfer it to Revenue Canada. Easy-Peasy, or as we say in Spanish, pan comido.
It has been rather shocking news, because it still has come suddenly and almost unexpectedly, though I really should have been expecting this after my communications with the Revenue Canada agent, and it has caused me some anxiety and a bit of a troubled night for sleep as I have been working out the math. You see, I already thought I was quite flush with extra money for this extended trip I am planning to Latin America, Colombia and Costa Rica, respectively. I can still do it okay. My assets are some $3500 above what they were last year at this time. paying this debt to Revenue Canada will still leave me an extra $2500, and if I factor in the extra $500 I will be spending in Colombia for three weeks before taking my usual month in Costa Rica, then, at the end of the day, I will still have an extra $2000 in assets compared to a year ago at the time when I will have arrived home in early April. There is the possibility that I might have to take a small sum from my tax-free savings account to mitigate any shortfall, but that is really a tiny sacrifice.
So, then, why have I been upset over this? Quite simply, like most people, I naturally assume that the money I earn is going to be all mine, and that I am merely doing the government a favour by allowing them to steal some of my hard-earned money, which really is rightfully mine, mine, ALL MINE!!!!! my Precioussssss! (to quote Gollum) That is certainly how I have come to understand the thinking of the rich burghers in Shaughnessy Heights who have adorned their front gardens with those ugly red, black and white signe, huge signs, screaming out in protest against the government for imposing on them even a tiny extra bit of property tax in order to help increase government revenues that pay for infrastructure and social and health services and education. Now, I am much poorer than those lovely rich people, and in many ways it's like comparing apples to oranges, but by the same token, like them, I can afford to pay this tax. It is my obligation, and in a way it is also my basic human right, since in this regard I am privileged, 1: that I can afford to pay this kind of tax, and 2: that I have this small opportunity to share in and contribute to the collective wellbeing.
Receiving news of this tax debt for me is really nothing less than an opportunity for me to re-envision how I perceive my finances. They are not my finances. It is not my money. I have stewardship over this income of mine, yes, to adequately feed, shelter and clothe myself, but also, before even considering what luxuries or fun and enjoyable things or activities I am going to blow the rest on, to give back to the very community that supports and sustains me. Even though I am not really in a financial position to do this in my church, (and fortunately we're rolling in dough right now, so really they don't need anything from me), at least I can go on paying my own public share without whining, while thanking God for yet another opportunity to cut myself loose from the very chains that bind us to this earthly life.
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