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After
all, the GST is a consumption tax -- a tax on goods and
services -- and a carbon tax is the mother of all consumption
taxes -- a tax on energy.
Since
the use of energy is involved, directly or indirectly, in the
manufacture, production and transportation of all goods and
services in Canada, including some not covered by the GST,
such as food, it would be absurd for Canadians to have to pay
two, separate, regressive federal consumption taxes whenever
they buy anything. (Make that three such taxes in provinces
with a sales tax!)
Consider:
The GST and Dion's carbon tax are so similar, that Dion
promises his carbon tax will be "revenue neutral",
just as Brian Mulroney's Conservatives promised their GST
would be "revenue neutral" in 1991.
Plus,
there are many other reasons for Dion to scrap the GST as part
of his carbon tax proposal.
Why,
for example, should taxpayers have to pay for a whole, new
civil service bureaucracy to collect a carbon tax in addition
to the one that already exists to collect the GST?
Instead,
civil servants already collecting the GST could simply be
redirected to collect the new carbon tax at no extra cost.
Finally,
scrapping the GST would enable the Liberals to fulfil their
1993 election promise to ... uh ... scrap the GST.
And
here's the best news!
Since
Dion promises his new carbon tax will be "revenue
neutral," Canadians are thus assured his proposed tax
will not take any more money out of their wallets, in total,
than would have been the case had the Liberals introduced a
carbon tax separate from the GST.
Bottom
line?
We
lower carbon emissions (because that's what a carbon tax does,
right?) and do our part to save the planet, all without having
to pay one more cent in total taxes.
Source
: Edmonton Sun - Alberta, Canada, dated 16/06/2008
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