I think a pack of yahoos have infiltrated the Reform Party benches.
I asked the clerk: "What do you know about the taxes?" He said: "I don't know anything. I don't have to know anything". However, if we go into any Canadian store and ask the clerk if they know about the sales taxes, they will answer: "Yes, there is 8 per cent and 7 per cent in Ontario. There is a different one in Newfoundland, a different one in P.E.I. and a different one in Nova Scotia".
This harmonized sales tax will be of serious benefit not just to consumers, who will know when they see the price, but it will be of real benefit to business. Businesses will not have to register for the harmonized sales tax. It will be already registered. Everyone who has registered for the GST will be registered again.
How will a new business be treated? Instead of having to register for a provincial sales tax and a federal sales tax, it will have to register for one sales tax.
Reform Party members have quoted a number of people. Here is a GST quote. This is from The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council: "The potential benefits of harmonization can be easily laid out. By broadening the base of taxation, harmonization will make the system more equitable and reduce the incentive for tax based consumption or investment decisions. Harmonization should also simplify tax collection procedures, reducing the red tape required to administer the sales tax for both business and government. A common system among the three provinces with a full system of input tax credits will also result in the removal of a barrier to interprovincial trade and may reduce the amount of activity in the underground economy".