This article examines the role of sales and excise taxes in government revenues and in the Canadian economy. In particular, it explores the distributional effects of consumption taxes among Canadian households, to determine whether and to what extent the tax burden is borne disproportionately by...

The introduction of the VAT in Canada, initially in the form of the federal GST in 1991, did not signify a major change in the tax mix even after most provincial sales taxes also became VATs. Canadians do not pay much if any more in taxes on their consumption than they did 25 years ago. Although...