Rachel Haliburton Asks About the GST

Rachel Haliburton, the Spectator’s Ethicist, who has written frequently about the necessity of taxes, asked this question of federal candidates in Cape Breton-Canso and Sydney Victoria:

Given deficits are rising and healthcare in trouble, would you (or your party) consider raising the GST back to where it was before former Prime Minister Stephen Harper cut it?

Here are their answers (by riding, in the order in which they were received):

 

Sydney-Victoria

Lois Foster, Green Party of Canada

In the platform there is no plan shown to consider raising the GST back to where it was before Prime Minister Stephen Harper cut it. There are items in our Fair Taxation section of the platform:

• establish an arm’s length Federal Tax Commission to analyze the tax system for fairness and accessibility, based on the principle of progressive taxation;
• close tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy;
• end off- shore tax dodging by taxing funds hidden in offshore havens and requiring companies to prove that their foreign affiliates are actually functioning businesses for tax purposes;
• apply a corporate tax on trans national e-commerce companies doing business in Canada by requiring the foreign vendor to register, collect and remit taxes where the product or service is being consumed;
• impose a financial transaction fee of 0.5% in the finance sector;
• eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies, including payments and tax write-offs;
• increase the federal corporate tax rate from 15 to 21%;
• maintain current level of taxation for small businesses;
• charge a 5% surtax on commercial bank profits;
• prohibit Canadian businesses from deducting the cost of advertising on foreign-owned sites such as Google and Facebook;
• eliminate the 50% corporate meals and entertainment expense deduction which includes season tickets and private boxes at sporting events;
• increase the tax credit for volunteer fire fighters and search and rescue volunteers;
• apply a 1% tax on net (family) wealth above $20 million.

 

Kenzie MacNeil, Independent

Value-added taxes are regressive by nature. They have a greater negative impact on the poor. I would hope deficits could be addressed in other ways first.

 

 

 

Jodi McDavid, New Democratic Party

This question comes out of left field for me. It is so against an NDP mindset, which is to make life more affordable for working people. I would not personally support a GST increase.

 

 

 

Cape Breton-Canso

Michelle Dockrill, Independent

The evidence is clear, in that taxes such as the GST have a greater negative impact on those who are least fortunate in our society. With the continued increase in child poverty in Canada, we as a country need to really revisit value-added taxes. Governments are responsible for creating an atmosphere in this country whe[re] people can work and look after their families without wondering where their next meal is coming from. Or children going to school hungry because their last meal was the one they received the previous day at school. We are a country where…seniors are having to decide between medication or heating their home or food on their table. What we do not need is more cuts [that] subsequently hurt those that, as a country, we should protect.

Featured image: Prime Minister Stephen Harper uses a sign to show a future 1% cut to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at a Giant Tiger department store, on Friday 30 June 2006. The tax cut takes effect on 1 July 2006. JANA CHYTILOVA / OTT

 

 

 

 

 

Wolfville native Rachel Haliburton teaches philosophy at the University of Sudbury. Her latest book, The Ethical Detective: Moral Philosophy and Detective Fiction, was published in February by Lexington Books.