^MarchHare, one thing I will agree with you on with respect to the GST is that is makes no sense that it is incurred on somethings and not other things. In fact there is a whole niche GST-tax law industry that had cropped up around it. It's a sales tax, shouldn't it be on everything? You shouldn't need to read the entire Excise Tax Act to figure out if you pay it or not, you should just have to pay it.
However, the reason I think the GST is a wretched tax was that it was brought in to reduce the deficit, it did so, but was then kept anyway and other than the Fed-Con 2% reduction to it, it will probably never be abolished.
If it were used more in the way you explain, i.e. to provide lower income taxes for all Canadians and more rebates for low-income households, then I would certainly be more inclined to agree with you. However, IMO it is being used as an additional tax to our payroll taxes and user fees and the government has become entirely dependent on it as a supplemental source of revenue.
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