THE ISSUE _The following is the second in- - stalment in an ongoing series of stories. addressing some of the many issues facing Canadians as . they..consider who.to vote for in “the upcoming federa! election. “Today's: ‘story. and responses on GST. were written and com- led by. News “Teporter Anne THE 1%: GST (Goods and © . Serv ces. Tax) continues to. bea: contentious issue for.” eleaguered taxpayers: - The federal tax took effect on > 11991. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney : iid ‘the Conservative government . introduced the controversial tax in espite.extraordinary. arliamentary opposition and ‘a. “two-million name petition against ‘ he measure. To. ensure. the GST: passed, ulroney dusted off an old stat- te that: allowed him to appoint ore Conservatives to the Senate. The. GST: replaced’ the | 13.5% ederal manufacturers’ tax. ‘But the’ GST. is a broad-based ax applied to almost -all services, ncluding “: restaurant. “and BC The feds promoted the ‘tax as a ‘easonable ‘means to. tackle ‘the. rowing federal deficit. : : “ins troduced, then-finance.. minister ‘they stand on the GST issue. The ~ ‘ollowing are the: responses to the hy. hasn’t -the' GST: ‘gone. ‘exclusively to pay off the. oun * Conservatives. ‘government debt? CAPILANO-HOWE SOUND ae CANDIDATES: Mary Coltins® ‘Progressive | Conservative Party i ‘GST ‘revenue (net), by. law —-Bill ‘C-21..— > can only. go to debt eduction.: 1991-92, ‘$15,168,461 ,000 (Auditor Gener: ‘al’s* ‘Repori) went directly there, Suggesting ost goes’ elsewhere is false | Peggy Stortz “Green Party - ‘Although J am ‘uncertain the GST “was promised to eliminate the or majority federal gov’t? READERS’ VOICE |\983-2208 NEWS pho photo Tory Paters SMALL BUSINESS owner Naomi Yamamoto of Lasercolor Design and Printing shows what she rently requires GST accounts to be filed every three months. ' Michael Wilson said the GST was | “part of the. government’s ; 1988 plan to reform income tax. , According to a March 6, 1991, News story, Wilson predicted the deficit would be $30.5 billion in 1991 and would drop in 1992-93 that: ‘money has probably to offset “debt, gone “Audrey Sojonky Liberal Party This ‘question should be put to the However, in “fairness, the GST was not in- tended to generate new revenue, but to replace the abolished: feder- al sales tax. Bill Tomlinson Libertarian If you can -find anyone who did believe it would be used for the debt I have some BCRC shares I'm sure they would like to buy. Doris Fuller National Party of Canada Because of government waste and the high cost of administering the collection of the tax. Dave North Vancouver I .would favor a minority or a majority government, as long as they were honest, straightforward’ ‘and not evasive and actually did: what they said they were going to. the © excessive , spending of the Present govern-- ment. “to below $25 billion. Today it’ stands at about “$35 billion. . Federal politicians said the im- plementation of the GST and consumer acceptance of the new tax was progressing well, accord- Sandra Bauer New Democratic Party The GST is regressive taxation. We are committed to its phase- out. Deficits should be fought by a strategy for full employment and by fair taxation. Herb Grubel Reform Party of Canada « Reform’ opposed the adoption of the GST. Only. Minister Collins is in a position to answer, this ques- tion. NORTH VANCOUVER CANDIDATES: Mobina Jaffer Liberal Party GST is collected . by the present government and the revenues are distributed at the direction of the government. : ‘As to why GST is not dedicated to retiring the debt is a question that can only be. answered by government members. a minority “would like to do to the GST paperwork that often dominates her desk. The federal government cur- ing to the 1991 story. On the -surface, it seemed ‘the | GST would leave consumers - with more money in their pockets after paying 7% tax instead of. the 13.5% federal manufacturers’ tax. But the hidden federal manu- Dallas Collis National Party of Canada When announced, GST was to be used. partly to reduce national debt. This was a sales pitch or blatant ‘lie. Reality. is that the revenues are used to finance gov- ernment wastefuiness. Bradford Cooke _ Natural Law Party of Canada - The GST has not gone exclusively to pay off government because the rising costs of gov- ernment services have’ put addi- - tional strain on all: sources of government revenues, including the GST, : Graeme Bowbrick New Democratic Party Only the Conservative government can. answer this question. After all, they were the’ ones . who decided how to spend the revenue generated by the GST, not the cp- position parties. dialling 983-2208. Mr, L. Wright West Vancouver The scare tactics used by those currently in power, claiming a mi- nority government will bring eco- nomic chaos to Canada, are a last ‘ditch effort to stop their freefail in ' the polls. debt, && On the surface, it seemed the GST . would leave the . a consumers with .more money ... rE] 7 ‘facturers’. tax was usually. placed on items at the stage of . the assembly of manufactured goods and couldn’t be readily identified ‘ in an item’s fina! price. . In attempting to sell the GST to Canadians, government officials offered examples showing «that new cars and other large: ticket items would be cheaper to buy. But consumer goods of any size did not appear,;to drop-in price - after the GST took effect... fe . What did drop; however, : was Mulroney’s popularity after he increased. Conservative : 'repre- sentation in the Senate and pushed through’ the; GST.. A subsequent poll.at the time indicated that only. 15%: of Canadians thought the - prime minister was doing, a good job. aoe eon. hs oy f gov’ t debt? Will McMartin’ Progressive Conservative . Interest. charges -on the _govern- ment debt total about $40 billion each = year. . Despite..'an”! annual operating: surplus: of about $5: billion (the difference between the monies sent’ to Ottawa by. tax- payers. and the monies. in. turn spent by the government on ser- ices for Canadians), the: "interest ‘charges leave a deficit of ap- ; proximately $35 biilion.., GST revenues — almost. $15 billon each year — go directly inte: the Debt Servicing and Reduction - Account, but obviously. that isa fraction of the annual interest charges of $40 billion, or the ac- ‘ cumulated debt of $460 billion. Ted White Joeeyy Reform Party of Canada: This is really a\ question for. the Progressive Conservatives, but any GST money they did apply to the debt has already been cancelled out by more borrowing. pe TO SERVE the voting community of the North Shore better, the North Shore News’ coverage of the campaign leading up to the Oct. 25 federal | election will focus on your opinions and concerns. Your Call will appear’! f in every issue, asking you questions relating to the election. The same: question will repeat for three issues, with a fresh question every Sunday. | You can. only cast one vote, but you can express yourself every day by : ‘ Betty Thomson — : North Vancouver ; Definitely a majority government. THES WEEK’S QUESTION: | Do you vote for the local candidate, the party, or the party’s leader? _ ‘ment with all Marilyn Kind North Vancouver . I'd like to see a minority govern- parties . working together to heal our country. The playing of politics for politics’. sake must stop. .