Madam Speaker, with regard to the first point in terms of what is fair and what does not act as a deterrent to persons investing, taking risks, being successful and encouraging success, in a sense that is what creates our economy, when a tax system does that and does not act as a detriment to investment.
To stand and say that I could judge what the rates should be and whether the three rates we have in place today are fair or not would be difficult. The point I wanted to make in my presentation was that the cost of government today is too high. People, no matter where they are, whether they are in business, private individuals, in labour or whatever, are paying a rate of taxation up front in many cases of 25 per cent as wage earners. They are paying 25 per cent. They are sending it to Ottawa through their income tax forms. That is too much. We are taking away too much from people that they could use for their own personal reasons. That is a deterrent.
The only way we are going to deal with that is to bring the cost of government down. That is the whole thrust of the objectives of the Reform Party. We must bring the cost of government down so that there is more money in the hands of the people. That is the point I make there.
The next point is with regard to using the Income Tax Act or other tax policy for social purposes. I have found in my travels and in the hearings of the finance committee on the GST that every time we tried to use the tax system for social policy it created inequities. For example, when we were in Quebec City a professional group made a presentation to us and said: "We are not exempt from GST". Another professional group that appeared before the committee prior to that one had said it was exempt. Which professional organization should have had the exemption and which should not have? We could go down the line and find other social organizations. Some are exempt from GST and some are not. The tax is applied unfairly.
Social policy initiatives should go through the budget process. In this assembly we should determine what types of benefits we will pay to which group, make it an expenditure program as such and deal with it directly rather than indirectly through the tax system.