I couldn't help but notice the outrage sweeping across the Province of Nova Scotia, where the NDP Government has decided to raise the sales tax by 2%, which is expected to cost households $400-$500 annually. There is a pseudo referendum happening in British Columbia because Gordon Campbell has decided to add provincial sales tax to goods that were previously not taxed (note that the feds gave the BC Liberals the option of not adding the tax to what was previously untaxed, but Gordy declined). Evidently consumers are extremely sensitive about adding taxes to the sale of goods and services, and thus the best time for a regime to do it is near the beginning of a term.
It is easy for Kevin Page to demand increasing the GST, because he does not have to run for elected office. It will be interesting to see if Ignatieff ever adopts increasing the GST as part of Red Book 2.0. He has left open the possibility of raising taxes, but he really just doesn't want to talk about it. He just has his minions like Gerard Kennedy do it instead. Gerard is easy to throw under a bus if need be. Be warned opposition, you may want to raise the GST now, but there will be a wave of backlash against the party who actually pushes this increase through.
It really burns my arse when I have to pay tax on books, but the insult of insults is when the govt puts up the tax on gas, (I'm refering to Germany where I live atm) and that raises the VAT on the litre of gas as well. Paying tax on a tax wtf?
ReplyDeleteRich, the VAT is everywhere including in the west indies.
ReplyDeletePaul Martin put a tax on a tax on litre of gas.
Personally - I would raise GST two points, reduce spending to get the deficit under control.. and then bring the GST back once that's accomplished.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather see tax generated by a consumption tax than by changes to the income tax regime - and if we don't get a handle on the deficit, it's going to bite us in the ass big time down the road.