The Canadian goods and services tax

The history of federal sales tax reform in Canada is reviewed in this paper which also surveys the events that led up to the enactment of the GST; describes the elements of what was referred to as the "GST reforms"; analyses an alternative to the enactment of the GST that the Canadian government ignored, namely, the imposition of an income tax surcharge; reviews the tax policy considerations that supported an income tax surcharge over the enactment of a GST; and examines the politics involved in the debate over the enactment of the GST.