Thank you, Minister.
Minister, after reviewing the information on the business tax revenue that the Department of Finance provided Parliament, we all noticed a very interesting trend. For instance, I'd like to look at two years. In 2000-01, when the business tax rate was 29.12%, corporate profits were $136 billion and the federal government collected $28.3 billion in business tax revenues. Let's look a few years later and a few tax reductions later. In 2006-07, when the tax rate was about 22%, or more than 7% lower, corporate profits rose to $197 billion and the federal government collected $37.3 billion in business tax revenues.
It would appear from the numbers that as business taxes were lowered, business became stronger and the federal government ended up collecting more revenue, not less revenue, from business. Can you please comment on that trend?