Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question and the opportunity to expand on a couple of aspects of this single tax.
I think the hon. member's point about changes is that we have not been changing the tax system; we have been tinkering with it. There is a saying in the manufacturing industry that we have lost the handle. That means when you have tinkered with something so often and so much you do not know where you started and you lose the handle.
We have lost the handle with our tax system. All the tinkering in the world is not going to change it. We have to go back to ground zero and reinvent it. We have to keep in mind the kiss principle: keep it simple stupid. It must be kept simple and direct. If a book three inches thick is needed to define the tax law and you have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out how you are going to pay the taxes, then obviously people feel there are loopholes for some and not for others.
As far as equity in a single tax is concerned, who is going to get nailed? Obviously you are only going to nail the middle class. That is where the money is.
To presume the high income earners in our country are paying a fair portion now is to presume there are not such things as a capital gains exemption, that there are not all kinds of tax incentives to help people at the higher end of the income level. These are not available to people at the lower income level.
To presume that things are fair and equitable in the tax system now, I just do not concur with the hon. member's premise. I think it is not fair now and it needs to be fair. The tax system is only able to get resources from people who have them. We have to understand that.