Scott Reid Condemns Liberals Retroactive GST Collection on School Buses

Ottawa – Scott Reid MP (CA, Lanark-Carleton) yesterday against the Liberal government’s retroactive imposition of GST on school bus transportation.

Speaking in the House of Commons, he objected strongly to the federal government’s budget decision to retroactively amend the Excise Tax Act in order to charge GST on school bus transportation. This takes place after the federal government lost a test case in Quebec and was ordered by the courts to pay back GST paid by the schools on the costs that they had incurred for school buses. Reid stated “Astonishingly, the Liberal government’s solution is not to simply pay the money that it owes to school boards, but instead the budget is pushing through a retroactive clause to justify a tax on local school funding that the courts have said is unlawful.”

Reid continued, “Technically speaking, the federal government may have a legal right to impose retroactive taxes on schools, but it goes without saying that there is no moral justification for this. Money that would have been used to educate our kids will now have to be diverted to the bottomless money pit known as the federal consolidated revenue fund.”

Reid observed the Upper Canada School Board, which administers schools in Lanark County and Smith’s Falls, will be deprived of some $2.59 million. “That is $2.5 million that could have been used for school repairs, the hiring of more teachers, or for the replacement of infrastructure,” he told the House of Commons.

For more information or to speak with Mr. Reid
Please call (613) 257-8130 or (613) 947-2277.

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