This might slow down my american craft beer hauls

spinrsx · Post by **spinrsx** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:42 pm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/s ... r-fee.html

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:04 pm

This has been yakked about for a few years now.

Just another "small potatoes" line item that the US thinks will improve their economic situation, without having to increase taxes on their citizens.

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:05 pm

Although I think charging this proposed fee to Canadians is ridiculous, they haven't yet decided on the amount. For all we know it could be a low amount of $5 or less. If that is the case, it likely won't deter my beer runs but if it gets high enough, it might...

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:47 pm

Well these were the charges I got dinged for on my recent flight to Florida, I expect they would start with a small one similar to the last few lines, but they do tend to expand over the years as we see

U.S.A Transportation Tax 35.96
U.S Agriculture Fee 5.23
U.S Passenger Facility Charge 4.70
U.S.A Immigration User Fee 7.32
September 11 Security Fee 2.61
U.S. Federal Customs Fee 5.75

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:56 pm

According to the Post, NY state is pretty staunchly opposed...

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... ravellers/

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:28 pm

TheSevenDuffs wrote:Although I think charging this proposed fee to Canadians is ridiculous, they haven't yet decided on the amount. For all we know it could be a low amount of $5 or less. If that is the case, it likely won't deter my beer runs but if it gets high enough, it might...

Not only have they not decided on an amount yet, they haven't even proposed having a fee yet. The line item in the budget is a proposal to launch a study into the viability of the fee. I don't think this is worth worrying about yet.

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:04 pm

squeaky wrote: Not only have they not decided on an amount yet, they haven't even proposed having a fee...The line item in the budget is a proposal to launch a study into the viability of the fee. I don't think this is worth worrying about yet.

My thoughts as well. At a minimum it won't apply to any trips/hauls this year if it's actually introduced (9 months from now is late January 2014).

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:06 pm

It's still better to squash it while it is a question of "Should we implement this tax?" before it becomes a question of "How much should this tax be?"

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:36 pm

icemachine wrote: It's still better to squash it while it is a question of "Should we implement this tax?"

I agree, but it sounds like that's exactly what's happening. Canadian government and opposition parties, companies, Chambers of Commerce, municipalities and lobby groups on both sides of the border, and likely all Congressional reps in border states (some of which are the most populous in the country and therefore have large representation in the House) are against it. That's a pretty rough start. My bet is either the request will be refused by Congress or the fee, if it's ever introduced, will be low enough not to deter people from crossing.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:20 pm

$5.75 is unlikely to stop me from going. It's stupid, and will likely hurt the US for all the reasons mentioned if implemented but the border towns will feel the most impact.

Masterplan · Post by **Masterplan** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:30 pm

Simple solution, just charge Americans quadruple entering Canada and give Canadians their money back on re-entry.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:02 am

I think Mexico should also charge at least double the proposed "American Hopeless Insecurity" fee, a nasty big financial hit just to capture Americans' faces all screwed up when they only want to cross the US-MEX border for dinner or to shop a few hours.

Then they could put that on a TV or webcast show. It would be really funny, because I don't think Americans like 'tit for tat.'

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:56 am

Belgian wrote:Then they could put that on a TV or webcast show. It would be really funny, because I don't think Americans like 'tit for tat.'

Brazil did something similar when the US started raising security requirements a few years back. It might have been related to when the US was demanding passenger lists for flights that passed through US airspace, whether they landed in the US or not? I can't remember the specifics.

Mexico likely needs the tourism dollars more than Americans need to pop over for an afternoon though.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:19 am

this has been coming up every couple years since I lived in Fort Erie (2002). there will be some talk, then eventually the government (US) will deem it penny-wise, pound-foolish and it will die out.

FWIW It costs 6 bucks to cross over from the Soo into Michigan - they nail you both coming into the states and leaving as well.

spinrsx · Post by **spinrsx** » Fri May 10, 2013 2:10 pm

an update on this story:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/s ... enate.html