Finance committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure I can add a great deal to what I said before. The status of legislative proposal as it moves through Parliament includes, of course, introduction as a notice of ways and means motion, but the notice of ways and means motion itself is not an enactment of Parliament and it doesn't have the power of an act of Parliament.

Finance committee  The proposals in the 2006 budget will only become law once they are enacted, once they form part of an act of Parliament, yes.

Finance committee  Oh, I'm sorry. I'm actually not certain of that. I must admit I don't know much about the relationship between the tax legislation and the estimates themselves.

Finance committee  There'd be no rate reductions vis-à -vis the 2005 budget. In other words, the rate reductions that are offered in this budget would not take place if that legislation were not enacted.

Finance committee  It would put them in a very difficult position. It would also put the Revenue Agency in a very difficult position. It would have to decide how it would deal with that. It would be faced with large numbers of taxpayers who had filed with an expectation that rates would be x, finding out after the fact that rates in fact were not that.

Finance committee  If it's to have effect, there does need to be an enactment.