Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's report reminded us that successive federal governments' tax policy has resulted in a tax regime that is now recognized by all to be unfair, unjust, biased, distorted, confusing, convoluted and discriminatory.
Having completely lost faith in the tax system, Canadians' responses include tens of thousands of businesses collecting the GST and simply keeping the money, hundreds of thousands of Canadians purchasing contraband cigarettes and illegal liquor, and perhaps most Canadians participating in the growing underground economy where business transactions are conducted in cash or through barter to avoid paying tax.
This system has created a nation where millions of Canadians now consciously and regularly break the law. This has led to a serious erosion of our value system.
There are many reasons to clean up our tax system and to restore Canadians' faith in it. But surely what it is doing to our nation's value system ought to make reform of our tax system a major priority in the upcoming federal budget.