Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
My biggest concern (and I haven't heard this mentioned yet so maybe someone can clarify it) is that it sounds as though the tax is going to be limited to goods or services produced in Canada. If a Canadian company is struggling to compete with foreign competitors and the Canadian company is suddenly hit with a tax that the foreign manufacturer doesn't have, then clearly this hurts the Canadian business and forces them to take a lower profit-margin, or raise prices and lose sales.
I'm also concerned about the opportunity for price gouging: If a business's costs go up .5% as a result of this tax, and they raise their prices 2% and blame it on the government.
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I believe you are correct on both counts. Foreign companies will not be as exposed to the tax unless Dion wants to slap an import tax on things based on what he believes is their carbon footprint. Think of the government jobs that would take to track!
Of course companies will gouge, if they think they can get away with it. How many companies that had included GST in their prices lowered their prices when the GST dropped by 2%? I can't think of a single one...