Edgar Nelson Rhodes (Minister of Finance and Receiver General)
Conservative (1867-1942)
Mr. RHODES:
I can get that figure.
Subtopic: SPECIAL WAR REVENUE ACT AMENDMENT
Mr. RHODES:
I can get that figure.
Mr. RALSTON:
That is what I want.
Mr. RHODES:
I understood my hon. friend to ask whether, out of the two cent rate, we could allocate the amount used as domestic sugar and the amount used in industry.
Mr. RALSTON:
Can the minister give me the information now?
Mr. RHODES:
I will try to get it before we rise.
Mr. GERSHAW:
In view of the fact that a great quantity of home grown sugar is used, has the minister been requested to remove the one cent duty altogther from sugar made from home grown material?
Mr. RHODES:
I think it is safe to take it for granted that representations have been made with respect not only to this but to every other form of taxation. That is as regular as the rising and the setting of the sun, and I hope my hon. friend will not take that answer as levity. I have no doubt representations have been made but I have no particular ones in mind at the moment.
Paragraph agreed to. 3. That schedule III to the said act, being the list of articles exempted from the consumption or sales tax, as enacted by section twenty-eight of chapter fifty of the statutes of 1932-33, be amended as follows: (a) by deleting the words "when produced by any one manufacturer or producer to the value of not more than three thousand dollars in any one calendar year" where they appear after the words "bakers' cake and pies" at the end of the second paragraph of said schedule and by substituting the words "not to include biscuits, cookies or other similar articles"; (b) by adding to the said schedule the following: Sap spouts and sap buckets, evaporators and complete parts therefor, when for use exclusively in the production of maple syrup; Milk albumen, when for use exclusively in the production of animal or poultry feeds. Paragraph agreed to. 4. That schedule V to the said act, as enacted by section thirty of chapter fifty of the statutes of 1932-33, containing list of exemptions from special excise tax imposed by section eighty-eight of the said act, as enacted by section twelve of chapter fifty-four of the statutes of 1932, be amended by adding thereto the following: "Articles enumerated in customs tariff item 352 (a)." Paragraph agreed to. 5. That subsection one of section seventy of the said act, as enacted by section ten of chapter fifty of the statutes of 1932-33, be repealed and the following substituted therefor:- 70. (1) No postal note shall be issued under the provisions of the Post Office Act unless there is affixed thereto a postage stamp of the value of: (i) one cent if the amount of money for which postal note is issued is not more than one dollar; (ii) three cents if the amount of money for which the postal note is issued exceeds one dollar; to be paid for by the purchaser of the note.
Mr. VENIOT:
Is the minister aware that
no postage stamps are affixed to postal notes? The war tax is collected by the printing in the comer of words indicating that the tax is paid, but no stamp is affixed.
Mr. RHODES:
I got this wording from
the Post Office Department.
Mr. VENIOT:
I looked up the act just
now and was surprised at the discovery that no stamp is affixed at all; it is printed on the corner.
Mr. RHODES:
Might not that be considered as the affixing of a stamp? My hon. friend knows more about it than I do, but I took the views of the Post Office Department. I shall be glad to look into the point.
Mr. VENIOT:
It would be just as well for the minister to look into it.
Mr. RALSTON:
How much will be collected under this item?
Mr. VENIOT:
Last year about seven million notes were issued?
Mr. RHODES:
It is not a large amount,
somewhere in the neighbourhood of $150,000.
Mr. VENIOT:
More than that. Last year three cents was collected on every postal note, and if I mistake not there were over seven million postal notes issued, so that it would be about $250,000. Why not make the postal note entirely exempt from the tax up to $3? It is the poor man's note, and I think it
Special IFar Revenue Act
should be exempt. Let money orders pay the war tax, but I suggest that postal notes be exempt to the extent I propose.
Mr. RHODES:
I shall be gLad to consider the suggestion. While however the tax seems trivial it runs into a substantial sum of money. I have known of instances where, the tax on cheques not being applicable above $5, a man of considerable means was at pains to write three cheques of S5 each rather than one cheque for $15, thus saving a few cents in taxation. There is always that temptation and we think it preferable to grade the tax. After all, one cent on a postal note is not a very heavy tax and on the whole cannot be regarded as an undue burden.
Paragraph agreed to. 6. That subsection two of section seventy-seven A, as enacted by section twelve of chapter fifty of the statutes of 1932-33, be repealed and the following substituted therefor:- 77A. (2) Except as hereinafter provided, every manufacturer and every importer of cigarette paper tubes shall affix to every package of cigarette paper tubes manufactured by him or imported by him into Canada, an excise stamp of the value of three cents for each one hundred cigarette paper tubes or fraction of one hundred cigarette paper tubes contained in such package. Paragraph agreed to. 7. That subsection one of section eighty-three of the said act be amended by repealing paragraph (b) and substituting the following: (b) a tax of seventy-five cents per gallon on champagne and all other sparkling wines.
Mr. RALSTON:
On the basis of last year's collections how much does the minister expect to lose by this reduction?