Ever since I've been living in Montréal, I had this love/hate relationship with this town, province and country. There are some privileges for living here such as free* health care, unemployment coverage and a decent quality of life. On the flip side, there are some areas where the average person such as myself gets screwed big time. Without the lube. Bare with me, let me explain.
All the benefits stated above sure are free and egalitarian towards the population. Rich, middle class and poor all have access to these benefits. But the money has to come in from somewhere in order to keep these services free and public. And that's where the taxes come in.
We are over-taxed. And now we are living through a crisis that many still fail to acknowledge to this day. FUEL PRICES!!!
Now, to those of you living outside Canada it's bad enough with record smashing prices that seem to increase daily. But if it's bad for you, it's critical where I live. The reason being because the taxes charged on the liter of refined gas are out of proportion. Right now, in the States, the price per liter is about 94 cents. Here in Montreal it's 1,40$!!! And those taxes collected from the fuel serve in large part to keep the free services, well, free*. So like you can see, nothing is free...
But it doesn't just end here. You can't just tell yourself that you'll bike to work everyday and end up saving on fuel. As the prices keep rising, the cost of living keeps rising including food, clothes and anything in between.
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