Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here today to discuss the two proposed excise measures that were included in budget 2017 regarding tobacco and alcohol taxation, which are included in part 3 of the bill in front of you. The first measure deals with tobacco taxation. You will find it i

Finance committee  The intent of the measure is to recover today the sums we were obtaining through the surtax at the beginning of this century. I must tell you that there are companies that were still paying the surtax until recently, because they were still active in Canada. If those companies

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. In the first year, 2017-2018, the $30 million increase in revenue is the result of the immediate 2% increase in the excise duty. In subsequent years, for the excise duty to keep pace with inflation, the forecast is to increase it on April 1 in each o

Finance committee  With the revenues projected for future years, given the very small increases proposed, there was no adjustment factor based on a drop in consumption of alcoholic products in Canada.

Finance committee  There are a number of parts to your question. In terms of imported alcohol, excise duties generally apply in their entirety. What I mean by that is that a bottle of wine imported from France is going to be hit with excise duty at customs. For a 750 ml bottle, the customs duty wi

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to add one tiny little technical detail. Mr. Deltell, you mentioned a comparison with a particular adjustment mechanism for the previous excise duties that existed at the beginning of the 1980s. I would like to add a clarification. The automat

Finance committee  You're right in the sense that these are all political decisions, as the minister has the ability to propose to Parliament an automatic mechanism that makes those adjustments occur in the future. These are ultimately all political decisions.

Finance committee  I would like to check that information. But what I can tell you is that there is probably nowhere in the world where there is federal taxation and a provincial distribution monopoly. That is very unique to Canada. I would be very cautious before making any generalization at all

Finance committee  To my knowledge, there has been no specific analysis done based on the presence of the escalator specifically. All the analysis was done as part of the overall proposed measure. As mentioned earlier in my presentation, a 2% increase that effectively resulted in about ¾ of a cent

Finance committee  The proposed excise duty rates apply equally to imports and domestic products subject to taxation. For instance, you do have some wine that is blended in Canada. These types of wine are blended from foreign and domestic products, meaning grapes. These wines are also subject to th

Finance committee  Basically, this is how it works. You have an excise duty. This excise duty is imposed under the Excise Act, 2001, in respect of wine produced and packaged in Canada. An equivalent duty is imposed under the customs tariff when the wine is imported at the border. This application o

Finance committee  The cigarette inventory tax is a technical, additional measure to the main measure to adjust the excise duty. In the Excise Act, 2001, we've had that specific mechanism for many years now. It is used when the excise duty is being adjusted. For instance, I think the last time it w

Finance committee  That's fair to say.

Finance committee  I will very briefly. First of all, this is not part of the bill that is before us for study. In addition, questions with respect to equalization, equalization formulae and territorial financing formulae are not usually dealt with by me and my colleagues from the tax policy branch

Finance committee  The list is relatively short. You have alcohol products. I mention beer, spirits, and wine. You have, of course, all tobacco products that are subject to excise duties, including cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, tobacco sticks, and cigars. Motor fuels are also subject to excise