At 12:58 PM 8/23/02 -0400, you wrote:
>I thought higher taxes hurt the economy!  Sounds like a viscous cycle to me.
>;)

The beauty of VAT (or GST) type taxes is that they don't really hurt
exports, as they are only applied on DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION. Businesses
pay them, then claim BACK the amounts paid as input tax credits. They are a
money spigot that is very tempting to the government. Especially since
the tax tends to be hidden to the consumer (not in Canada, but I think
everywhere in Europe where when the price says 200 currency units, that's
just what you pay).

Best regards,

Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
9/11 United we Stand

--
http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us!
email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body