An interesting story in the Toronto Star about how Canadian border guards suspect the new Nexus fast-track ID card is a conduit for smuggling:
The cards, along with so-called Fast cards used by truckers, are issued by both American and Canadian authorities to travellers who are deemed low-risk after screening. But an internal evaluation by the Canada Border Services Agency found that front-line officers have seen too many card-carrying travellers cheating. As a result, they've lost faith in the system. "There is a common perception among BSOs (border services officers) that individuals in the trusted traveller programs are not low risk and that they are not more compliant than others," says the study.
I cross the border a lot because I like to go beer and hoodie shopping, I like to weekend in upstate New York when there is enough money in the piggy bank and I like to go to Maine in the summer to see friends. That means we bring back stuff and we declare everything. But sometimes I have declared 12 beer and been asked to pay $3.57. On other occasions, we have brought back 500 buck worth of beer, a canoe, bags of LLB clothes or sacks of groceries and paid nothing because of the number of people in the car and that we stayed over 48 hours.
Why? There is nothing tied to my time in the US that makes an economic impact in Canada - unless we are a country that imposes tax on me to keep me from traveling. The 48 hour rule actually keeps me in the states longer. And I have a mobility right in the constitution. And I am a free person. Ought I not be able to travel as I wish and ought not border guards be freed up to fight terrorism and not count the number of 6-packs and ham sandwiches in mini-vans? Time to change.
This move might be a start but who the heck goes to duty free stores?
Comments
Hans - November 3, 2008 10:09 AM
Nothing ruins the sense of relief of returning home from a journey (whether by air or car) than having to hold one's tongue while being treated like a criminal by suspicious and surly customs guards and being subjected to searches for no reason. It seems contrary to principles of natural justice that the mere fact of crossing a border (nay coming home from abroad because I am invariably treated better by US and European officials), gives rise to presumptions of smuggling.
sean - November 3, 2008 11:41 AM
And when one feels the need to resort to taking crappy old clothes down south only so you can ditch them and re-fill suitcases with new clothes (price tags removed of course). It makes one feel dirty for something so nnocent.
Ben (The Tiger) - November 3, 2008 12:53 PM
Far be it from me to defend the monolithic state, but:
1. You have the liberty to cross the border (provided you keep your criminal record clean); and
2. Crossing the border does not relieve you of your tax liability to the Canadian government.
The case for tariffs and duties is the protection of Canadian vendors. I don't agree with 'em, but the idea is that each beer you buy Stateside is a beer you're not buying in Canada. And so on.
But if you want to push for the customs union, I won't say nay.
Alan - November 3, 2008 12:59 PM
"...each beer you buy Stateside is a beer you're not buying in Canada..."
Only if a beer is a beer is a beer - which it isn't.
Jay Currie - November 3, 2008 4:43 PM
It is a set of silly rules arbitrarily enforced and gleefully evaded by assorted Canucks.
So far as I can tell, the rationale for tariffs at the US border (protecting Canada's infant industries) vanished pretty much the minute we started importing pretty much everything (except beer) from China. Now they are just blatant tax grabs levied on Canadian travelers.
I have not the time to find out the total net revenue from such tariffs but I suspect the nickel and diming is not a huge source of federal income.
So, yes, let's dump'em.