General

Saskatchewan business wants harmonized sales tax

Call comes despite B.C., Ontario political fallout over HST

A sweeping report on how Saskatchewan should reform its tax system, delivered today by business groups led by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, calls for the province’s sales tax to be harmonized with the
federal Goods and Service Tax, at a combined rate of 12 per cent by 2017. It’s just one proposal in a much larger blueprint, but remarkable as it comes after governments in British Columbia and Ontario continue to see their popularity battered after implementing GST harmonization. The fact that the Saskatchewan report raises the idea again is testimony to the powerful logic behind governments relying on consumption taxes rather than growth-slowing taxation of income and investment. That doesn’t matter much, though, in the world of politics—Saskatchewan Finance Ken Krawetz said all the report’s recommendation would be considered, “other than the recommendations on tax harmonization.”

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