IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ays/ispwps/paper1221.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The GST/HST: Creating an Integrated Sales Tax in a Federal Country

Author

Listed:
  • Richard M. Bird

    () (University of Toronto)

Abstract

Canada is not a country with a reputation for bold experimentation. However, Canadian experience demonstrates conclusively that an invoice-credit, destination-based value-added tax (VAT) is workable at the subnational level, with both federal and provincial governments retaining full control over the rates of their sales taxes as well as retaining a surprising degree of policy freedom with respect to the base of the tax. As this paper shows against the background of a concise history of sales taxation in Canada, it has taken decades of federal-provincial negotiations to produce the present substantially integrated national and provincial sales tax system. Moreover, the process not yet complete and the results are far from perfect. Nonetheless, Canada has shown that not only can VATs be introduced at the subnational level but that they can work surprisingly well – at least in a country with an over-riding national VAT.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard M. Bird, 2012. "The GST/HST: Creating an Integrated Sales Tax in a Federal Country," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1221, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1221
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://icepp.gsu.edu/files/2015/03/ispwp1221.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bird,Richard & Gendron,Pierre-Pascal, 2011. "The VAT in Developing and Transitional Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107401440.
    2. Peter Dungan & Jack Mintz & Finn Poschmann & Thomas Wilson, 2008. "Growth Oriented Sales Tax Reform for Ontario: Replacing the Retail Sales Tax with a 7.5 Percent Value-Added Tax," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 273, September.
    3. Stanley L. Winer, 2011. "Reflections on the Role of Optimal Design in the Tax Policy Process," New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada: Papers in Honour of Ian Stewart,in: Fred Gorbet & Andrew Sharpe (ed.), New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada: Papers in Honour of Ian Stewart, pages 205-210 Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    4. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney & Kory Kroft, 2009. "Salience and Taxation: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1145-1177, September.
    5. Chun-Yan Kuo & Thomas Mcgirr & Satya Poddar, 1988. "Measuring the Non-Neutralities of Sales and Excise Taxes in Canada," Development Discussion Papers 1988-08, JDI Executive Programs.
    6. Raj Chetty, 2009. "The Simple Economics of Salience and Taxation," NBER Working Papers 15246, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Grady, Patrick, 1990. "An Analysis of the Distributional Impact of the Goods and Services Tax," MPRA Paper 13144, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Bird, Richard M. & Mintz, Jack M. & Wilson, Thomas A., 2006. "Coordinating Federal and Provincial Sales Taxes: Lessons From the Canadian Experience," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 59(4), pages 889-903, December.
    9. David Murrell & Weiqiu Yu, 2000. "The Effect of the Harmonized Sales Tax on Consumer Prices in Atlantic Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 26(4), pages 451-460, December.
    10. Richard Bird & Pierre Gendron, 1998. "Dual VATs and Cross-Border Trade: Two Problems, One Solution?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 429-442, July.
    11. Michael Smart, 2007. "Lessons in Harmony: What Experience in the Atlantic Provinces Shows About the Benefits of a Harmonized Sales Tax," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 253, July.
    12. repec:clh:resear:v:5:y:2012:i:29 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Keen, Michael & Lockwood, Ben, 2006. "Is the VAT a Money Machine?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 59(4), pages 905-928, December.
    14. Bird, Richard M. & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & Torgler, Benno, 2008. "Tax Effort in Developing Countries and High Income Countries: The Impact of Corruption, Voice and Accountability," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 55-71, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Canada; VAT; subnational taxes; intergovernmental fiscal relations;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Paul Benson). General contact details of provider: http://aysps.gsu.edu/isp/index.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.