摘要：This study questions the presumption that consumption taxes—in Quebec, the federal goods and services tax (GST) and the Quebec sales tax (QST)—are regressive. Using Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending, the authors identify the basket of taxable and non-taxable consumption of Quebec households for each income quintile. Their results show that without GST-QST credits, consumption taxes are almost proportional to household income; however, with these credits, the effective tax rate rises with income. By this measure, the tax credits are a more effective tool for improving the progressivity of consumption taxes than the zero-rating of basic groceries. Finally, the results also indicate that, like the recent reduction in the GST rate, increases in the QST rate, combined with changes to the refundable QST credit, benefit even households in the lowest income quintiles.
关键词：CONSUMPTION TAX n GST n QST n PROGRESSIVE TAXES n SALES TAXES n REGRESSIVE
