| From: | Chris Siebenmann <cks@********.UTCS.TORONTO.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Getting a SIN |
| Date: | Wed, 1 Sep 1993 20:31:02 -0400 |
they are. I'll give you the answer I use:
In my world (taking a leaf from INTO THE SHADOWS, where this is
mentioned in a story), a SIN is a ticket to the world of the (free)
government services that we take for granted today. Things like social
security, welfare, unemployment compensation, medicare, schools, and
the like; if you don't have a SIN, the government isn't obliged to give
them to you for free. My world is also relatively full of the SINless,
and they generally have money. Since people want to take money from you,
they generally aren't going to let a little thing like a lack of a SIN
stand in the way.
Accordingly, the government doesn't really want to give you one unless
either they have to or they think they'll get more money from you than
you're going to cost them. How does this work for the players? Well,
here's a bunch of ways they can wind up with legit ones:
- be the properly registered child of someone with a SIN. This forces the
government to give you one.
- buy a SIN outright. A bit tricky, but doable.
- start a company and, when tax time rolls around, if you earned enough,
the IRS will give you a SIN for record-keeping purposes. In practice,
this is how most people buy theirs.
- be hired by a sufficiently big company on a permanent job; a SIN is one
of the perks. You'd better be a pretty hot shot, though, to get in in
the first place.
Note that the government doesn't demand a SIN to take your money with
taxes -- oh no. The government loves to be able to tax people without
having to give them benefits, and tries to do it wherever possible.
Real companies are expected to withhold all applicable taxes when they
pay you (fake companies can get busted by Federal and local authorities).
To a certain extent, some services require SINs, particularly
government ones; no convenient licenses to carry firearms without one,
for example. The big banks also generally don't want the complication
that holding accounts for the SINless garners, but smaller banks (and
independant subsiduaries of larger ones) will be happy to take it. Ditto
for most common services.
- cks
