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From: robinson@ubc-cs.CDN (Jim Robinson)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: VAT
Message-ID: <844@ubc-cs.CDN>
Date: Tue, 13-Nov-84 22:06:49 EST
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.844
Posted: Tue Nov 13 22:06:49 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Nov-84 12:43:39 EST
Organization: UBC EAN, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 20

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That the Federal Government intends to study the possibility of implementing
a Value Added Tax ( VAT ) has got me to wondering just what a VAT is ?
Specifically:
     i) Is it possible to know how much tax you are paying on a good ?
        Under the present system an item that costs $1.10 includes 10 cents
        of federal sales tax, however, since a VAT accrues at each stage of 
        production, and since I don't think it is possible to know how
        many stages of production there are in your average good, then 
        how can you begin to estimate the total amount of tax you are 
        paying.
    ii) Is the tax rate at each stage of production the same ?
   iii) Won't a VAT involve a lot more paper work than the present
        system, the cost of which will ultimately be passed on to the
        consumer ?
    iv) Last, but not least, what deficiences exist in a federal sales
        tax that would be remedied by a VAT ?        

                                              J.B. Robinson