Mr. Speaker, it is an unusual time when we have Reformers and NDPers agreeing on things. It is like the lion and the lamb running side by side from a fire. I am the lamb.
I could not agree with the member more. The people of Canada clearly have lost confidence in the income tax system from the perspective of fairness.
There is the hated GST, goods and services tax, which the Prime Minister pledged in the 1993 campaign he would overturn. Of course he did not keep that promise. The hated GST is probably one of the greatest reasons for the submersion of much of Canada's economy. The way the federal government chose to administer the GST is convoluted.
Even if we were to have a debate about the efficacy of the GST, that would be one thing. But surely to goodness even Liberal members in the House would have to agree that the simple way the provincial sales taxes are administered versus the convoluted way the GST is administered is one of the main reasons people are going underground.
In comparison to the Prime Minister, it is to the present finance minister's credit that he had the graciousness to admit he had not kept his promise on the GST. Then when he turned around and brought in what was called the harmonized sales tax for three out of the four provinces in Atlantic Canada, it exacerbated the problem.
Our system of taxation is grossly convoluted. I know I am getting a little repetitious with the word convoluted. I will have to go to a thesaurus to find a better word.