(This article was first posted to the White House group on LinkedIn as a response to a couple of people mentioning GST. Since most Americans have no experience with GST, I typed up a quick summary. -Paul)
First, GST is a consumption tax. That fact drives the structure of the tax, meaning the exemptions and deductions from other taxes already in place. It's very easy to be seen as double, triple or even quadruple taxation.
As with all consumption taxes, the burden lands most heavily on the lower income levels.
Because of how it works, it requires a considerable bureaucracy to implement, and the revenues are almost always far beyond the predictions.
GST (good and services tax) is a modification of the VAT (value-added tax) that's been in place in many European countries for decades.
How it works
Let's take four levels:
- Producer - the person who grows or mines the raw material
- Manufacturer - the person who makes the raw materials into something
- Distributor - the person who moves the things to retailers
- Retailer - the person who sells the goods to the public
At each level, the person (or company) pays a 10% GST.
- Producer produces something, and sells it on to the Manufacturer for $100
- Manufacturer makes something, and sells it on to the distributor for $200
- Distributor sells things on to the Retailer for $300
- Retailer sells things to the public for $400
At each level, a 10% GST is imposed.
- Producer pays $10 GST
- Manufacturer pays $20 GST
- Distributor pays $30 GST
- Retailer pays $40 GST
But each level can subtract the GST already paid at the previous level or levels, so - after filing forms - each level actually pays $10 GST. But the consumer pays the full $40 GST on the $400 item they purchase.
What I've outlined above is the VAT. So long as there is an unbroken chain of value added to the goods, there's little confusion. But when you add Services to the chain, things get a little confusing.
Services?
What happens if the item is a computer, and the Retailer adds $400 in consulting fees to the price? With this simple example, the Retailer adds $40 GST to the additional $400 fee, and passes it on to the consumer.
A partial answer is the GST is hidden in the fees and purchase prices by quoting 'GST inclusive', which translates into a $400 fee where 1/11th is paid as GST.
The rest of the answer is the Consultant can deduct from the GST any GST already paid on other items in the business.
This works pretty well for going concerns with many expenses, but penalizes small operations that run on little hardware and without much service support. To get adequate reductions in GST to be paid, the small company - especially freelancers - has to start including household items and minuscule purchases.
Double taxation
If there's a state or federal income tax in place, how does the GST affect it?
GST is usually a federal tax. Does that mean it is subtracted from any Income tax owed federally? (tax credit)
Or is it simply deducted from the person's Taxable Income? (a deduction)
For most countries, the answer is GST is a deduction from Taxable Income, and you can see why it's called double taxation.
A key question is: Should Income tax be abolished if a GST is imposed? The initial answer is Yes, but the reality is Income taxes remain.
State taxes
Then there are state taxes. How does the federal GST affect these?
In theory, federal and state governments share GST revenues. That's probably the biggest selling point when implementing GST.
Since the governments share in GST revenues, shouldn't there be some mechanism to reduce state taxes based on the state's share of GST revenues? It's not hard to see this gets complicated fast. Because of the complications, this option is usually ignored or left to future negotiations (that never happen.)
Other taxes
Some state taxes are imposed on top of the GST in special types of sales such as land or resource extraction. How does the GST affect those?
The resource sector broadly opposes any tax, and interprets the GST as double taxation.
Effects on Low Income and Poor
It's easy to see the greatest burden of a GST is placed on consumers. In effect, every item purchased becomes 10% more expensive.
It's rare to find consumers tracking GST paid on a personal level, although it may be worth it at times. If the person is a freelancer or sole proprietor, it's certainly worth it.
But there has to be some mechanism, as with Income taxes, to distinguish between what expenses support the business and what are personal. Or is that true?
For those merchants that deal with low income earners and low income earners, the imposition of a GST has real and hidden costs. These costs are felt directly in the pocketbook for small retailers (convenience shops, hairdressers, etc) and the people they service.
If there's a state or federal income tax in place, how does the GST affect it?
GST is usually a federal tax. Does that mean it is subtracted from any Income tax owed federally? (tax credit)
Or is it simply deducted from the person's Taxable Income? (a deduction)
For most countries, the answer is GST is a deduction from Taxable Income, and you can see why it's called double taxation.
A key question is: Should Income tax be abolished if a GST is imposed? The initial answer is Yes, but the reality is Income taxes remain.
State taxes
Then there are state taxes. How does the federal GST affect these?
In theory, federal and state governments share GST revenues. That's probably the biggest selling point when implementing GST.
Since the governments share in GST revenues, shouldn't there be some mechanism to reduce state taxes based on the state's share of GST revenues? It's not hard to see this gets complicated fast. Because of the complications, this option is usually ignored or left to future negotiations (that never happen.)
Other taxes
Some state taxes are imposed on top of the GST in special types of sales such as land or resource extraction. How does the GST affect those?
The resource sector broadly opposes any tax, and interprets the GST as double taxation.
Effects on Low Income and Poor
It's easy to see the greatest burden of a GST is placed on consumers. In effect, every item purchased becomes 10% more expensive.
It's rare to find consumers tracking GST paid on a personal level, although it may be worth it at times. If the person is a freelancer or sole proprietor, it's certainly worth it.
But there has to be some mechanism, as with Income taxes, to distinguish between what expenses support the business and what are personal. Or is that true?
For those merchants that deal with low income earners and low income earners, the imposition of a GST has real and hidden costs. These costs are felt directly in the pocketbook for small retailers (convenience shops, hairdressers, etc) and the people they service.
Exemptions
Commonly a GST is imposed with "Necessities" excluded, such as milk, bread, baby food, etc. The exact list is always a little controversial. The most important goal of these exemptions is to relieve the burdern on low income or disadvantaged consumers.
But what about work clothes for those who have to wear safety vests or overalls on the job?
Nurses uniforms?
Police uniforms?
If you're a Courier, for example, can you remove the cost of gas and maintenance from GST? How?
Do you deduct the costs from the GST taxable income? Or do you document the GST paid and deduct it from your overall GST tax?
Income from investments
One area where GST becomes complicated is income from investments.
If you're a retiree with income properties, GST is applicable on all rents. Because retirees have little other business activities other than maintenance - which hopefully is a small portion of the income generated - the GST burden is not very well offset. It can become substantial.
If you're an investor with income properties you're renovating for resale, that may not be true.
GST is a tax that encourages business and economic activity.
What about income from bonds or dividends? Strictly speaking, this is not an increase in value. The payments are part of the initial purchase contract.
While the sale of stock or bonds is, hopefully, an increase in value, income from dividends and bond tickets is not.
In most systems, this income is subject to full GST.
Like all tax schemes, the devil is in the details.
Emerging economies
I suppose it's worth emphasizing a GST cannot be implemented in a country without an established tax system and tax base.
The granularity of the GST requires constant monitoring and checking. GST is not a tax for a developing or emerging economy.
A developing or emerging country can begin with a VAT and graduate to a GST. That's not an uncommon strategy.
And I should add that like VAT, GST is a tax that's usually paid many times each year - pay as you go system. That will mean added paperwork for persons and businesses monthly or quarterly.
This aspect of the GST is rarely considered, although it can be a considerable burden on individuals and small businesses both in time and processing expense.
Processing and Reporting issues
If the business has established business process programmng to determine the efficacy of a project - CRM or ERM systems are common even for small businesses today. - the addition of a GST can mean considerable expense.
Even if the business runs off basic accounting software, an upgrade will be required - that too often disrupts the reliability of the software in surprising ways.
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