Proposed legislation regarding Canada's harmonized sales tax: January 20, 1997.

On January 20, 1997, Tax Executives Institute presented the following testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance concerning the proposed legislation regarding Canada's harmonized sales tax. The testimony was presented by Pierre M. Bocti of Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Ltd., chair of TEI's Canadian Commodity Tax Committee. The following members of the committee contributed materially to the preparation of the testimony: Munir A. Suleman of Bank of Nova Scotia and Ricardo N. Horton of General Electric Canada.

Good Morning. My name is Pierre Bocti. I am Director of Tax for Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Ltd. I am here today on behalf of Tax Executives Institute in my capacity as Chair of the Canadian Commodity Tax Committee for the Institute. The Commodity Tax Committee is responsible for monitoring developments in consumption-based taxes such as the GST and sales taxes. With me today is Jeff Rasmussen, Assistant Tax Counsel with TEI's staff in Washington, D.C.

Background

Tax Executives Institute is the principal association of corporate tax executives in North America who are responsible for the tax affairs of the businesses by which they are employed. Our nearly 5,000 members represent more than 2,700 of the leading corporations in Canada and the United States. TEI represents a broad cross-section of the business community and is dedicated to the development and effective implementation of sound tax policy and to reducing the cost and burden of administration and compliance. Canadians make up approximately 10 percent of TEI's membership, with our Canadian members belonging to chapters in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. In addition to being chair of the Institute's Commodity Tax Committee, I am also the current President of the Toronto Chapter. The remarks that follow, and those in our written submissions to the Minister, reflect the views of the Institute as a whole, but more particularly those of our Canadian constituency.

General

In general, TEI commends the government for taking the initiative to harmonize the provincial retail sales taxes with the GST. When fully implemented, the benefit of a single national sales tax regime with a unified administration coordinated among the provincial and federal governments will, we believe, prove substantial for taxpayers and the government alike. Nonetheless, many substantial and thorny implementation and transition issues must be resolved to achieve a fully harmonized system...