Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!alberta!myrias!dbf
From: dbf@myrias.UUCP (David Ferrier)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: SIN Number
Summary: there's a few more cases where you have to SIN
Keywords: SIN
Message-ID: <694@myrias.UUCP>
Date: 14 Dec 88 20:53:50 GMT
References: <302@idacom.UUCP> <723@apss.apss.ab.ca>
Distribution: can
Organization: Myrias Research Corporation
Lines: 44

In article <723@apss.apss.ab.ca> jhp@apss.ab.ca (Herbert Presley) writes:

>	There are basically two general situations where you may be required to
>give your SIN, and these are...
>1) in any instance where you could be compelled to give identification
>2) situations where you are applying for government or private benefit.

>	Your SIN is your property, assigned to you for your lifetime, and there
>is no absolute compulsion to give it to anybody within the constrants mentioned
>above.
 
Sorry, Herb, there are more than two occasions when you have to
give out "your property". I can think of three more:

1. Whenever you open a bank account, or purchase interest-bearing
negotiable instruments (bonds, deposit certificates) the institution
you are dealing with requires your SIN so they can report the interest.

2. Whenever you take a job, your employer requires your SIN so
the firm can report your CPP contributions. That happens to be what
it is for.

3. If your spouse or ex has made support payments during the
year, she or he requires your SIN so the payments can be reported
properly on the supporting spouse's income tax return.

I dispute the assertion that a SIN is "property". It's an 
identification number assigned by the government to an
individual to help the government with its recordkeeping.
When you were in school, was your locker number your property?
Is your bank account number your property? Your VISA or
Chargex account number certainly isn't your property - the
banks make that quite clear.

I don't understand what all the fuss is about giving out or
not giving out your SIN.  What does it hurt? Who really
cares? Evidently some do, or this exchange wouldn't have
started in the first place. However, there is such a thing
as playing your SIN too close to your chest.

Best regards from 608 284 725.
-- 
David Ferrier                            Edmonton, Alberta
alberta!myrias!dbf                       (403) 428 1616