Individual Price Paid for Canadian Government Services

We as Canadian citizens are the "customer" of government services which are broken down into federal, provincial, and municipal levels.  The "Canada Revenue Agency" is the department responsible for collecting revenue, which we define as taxes paid through corporatate profits and individual income, as well as consumption taxes.  I had the opportunity to participate in an audit this week for "one" of the taxes that the "Canada Revenue Agency" is responsible for.  The specific tax is our federal "Goods and Services Tax", which is a multi-level tax assessed and claimed back at every level of business through conception of a product or service, to the final consumer.  Most provinces have their own provincial taxes as well, which are now being combined into a "Harmonized Goods and Services Tax".  Fortunately living in the province of Alberta, we do not have a "Provincial Sales Tax" simply because we have substantial oil revenue.  I have just touched the complexity of the tax system but my point is that we as citizens are bombarded with taxes!!  I am an accountant by profession and I felt totally uncomfortable during the three year audit of our business, and started to wonder how other citizens trying to run their businesses feel when the "Canada Revenue Agency" employess interrupt their businesses to visit their customers.

Again we are the customer!!

How can we measure our Government's Scorecard.  This is very difficult to do, but I can make a reasonable estimate of how much tax as citizens we pay.

Household personal income measured
100%

Income tax
federal and provincial income tax
unemployment insurance tax
taxable benefits received tax
dividend tax
investment tax
personal business profit tax
27%

Ownership tax
municipal property and business tax
4%

Excise/hidden tax
fuel, tobacco, environmental, hotel, airport, to name a few
6%

Consumption tax
federal goods and services tax
harmonized sales tax
11% (Canadian average)

This is a high level estimate, and may not be all inclusive, and for every $100 we earn as citizens we pay $48 for our government services.

How do we begin to measure the bang for our dollar?

Allan Gamble
Student Member
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta