Mr. Speaker, this is a perfect example of the importance of Private Members' Business. Some of the best ideas that have come to parliament have been through private members. This is absolutely one of the best examples of that.
We have a government that has an insatiable appetite for tax revenue and does not have a clue about what is important to the people of the country. Instead it wastes its money on all sorts of crazy things and the highways of the country are going downhill.
I did a calculation of government taxes when it comes to gasoline which I actually shared in the previous parliament. This being a new parliament it is time to share it again. In the 1994 budget the Minister of Finance announced a 1.5 cent a litre increase in tax on fuel. What he was not telling the people was that there was GST on top of that tax. That tax is added first and the GST is computed when all other taxes are in. Not only are the provincial and the federal taxes taxed with a GST but it is added on at the very end. That made that increase 1.605 cents, not the 1.5 that was actually touted.
I did a little calculation that showed that gasoline is taxed at 177%. Here are my premises. Before the election as well as now, if I begin with an earning of $2.78, with what I earn at the top of my income level I get taxed on 40%. $1.11 goes to income tax. I am now left with a $1.67. I take that $1.67 over to the gasoline station to buy some gasoline. What happens? There are taxes that we pay directly at the pumps in terms of excise taxes plus the taxes oil companies or retailers pay.
So that is money that comes from me, goes to the government in the form of taxation and accounts for very close to another 40%. Forty per cent of $1.67 is 67 cents and I am left with $1.00 to buy gasoline.
When I pay $1.67 in taxes, having purchased $1.00 worth of gasoline, it is a 167% rate of taxation. If the government cannot live with that it is really shameful.
I urge all members to support this bill. It is a very wise and important bill and a very necessary bill.