30 Jun
2004
30 Jun
'04
6:57 a.m.
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, der Mouse wrote:
Probably part of our (Dutch) national export? :)
Most European countries have a
"federal" (== national) taxing system,
which includes sales tax. Revenue from that flows back to teh various
provinces ("states") by ratio of their industry numbers. So, provinces
with little commercial activity will get less of that total revenue
than a busy province, such as North Holland (in which Amsterdam lies.)
This makes sense: that same total sales tax is "brought in" by that
same industry, so the division is more or less fair.
THis happened to me, too.. sorry, Mouse. They do seem to have a
problem with American-sounding people (like me, since I sound like
an American, not a Dutchie ;-)
--f
Actually, no, I haven't. I don't even own a
working television,
haven't for decades.
Good stuff. Gives you lots of time for more interesting
hobbies,
such as dragging 400-lbs computers around. I do have two TV's (and
all that comes with it), but only for my girlfriend, and for watching
DVDs.
things from
one province to another.
What are you smoking - and where can I get some?
The opposite
is true in Canada and most other countries. You also
have to do everything in two langauges (by law, no less!).
Only in rather special circumstances are you required by law to do
anything in both languages. (The major circumstance is if you're a
government; I'm not aware of any others, though they may well exist.)
Except for governments, in Québec, using any language other than French
is not required by law; outside Québec, I am not aware of any laws
requiring the use of any particular language. I found that
they frequently refused to speak English to other
Canadians from outside of Quebec since they expected them to be able
to speak in French.
Some of the more arrogant language bigots do. Everywhere has its
arrogant bigots - yes, including the US. Fortunately, language bigotry
is fading here.