The Ontario Scrapbook Hansard

Ontario Scrapbook Hansard, 28 Mar 1925, p. 1

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' l"'" * CE eE > -- l '--A;% R Saturda . ! s saturda . | ach 1¥ . ennemenemmensmmsnnmene s Maintains That Government Has No Definite Legal $ Method Smmmmmcn mmmnenmmemencue BILL NOW IN LAST stAge n ces m on nnmuiey . & F & .Ahshmc criticism of Governmental reticence ih giving details as to how i' was going to collect its three--cent. d.--gd"()lvl tax on casoline, followed -"y sarcastic comment which -- mads T'reasury--bench occupants wince when the Premier said that the Gov-- ornment still was studying this mat-- ter, were the means by which Lib-- cral lma'i(\'r Sinclair livened a somewhat dull committee debats in the Legislature yesterday afternoon. sinclair in Good Form. . l' was Lh(' l;ih('r"; '1('3!"('[' 5 h(_\\'t impromptu effort this session and he roused his followers to much desk hammering. The incident began when Zotique -- Mageau (Liiberal, .Qtura_con Falls) argued that with a gasolinc tax thore should O hbe a zgraded license fee for motor cars; that the man who ran his car only four or five months in the year should not have to pay the same license fee as the person who ran his car 12 months" of the year. Mr. Sinclair backed up this claim, and declared that the present method, the 'basis of the present tax, was ab»-- solutely unsound, unfair, and in-- defensible. Mr. Sinclair then demanded that the Government say where the con-- sumer was going to pay the gasoline tax. Would it be at the gasoline station? Unless the tax were pay-- able there the act was unconstitu-- tional. '"The Government woun't tell ' uUs. I think this bill should not be allowed to pass the committee stage until the Government tells 18.' Collect From Purchasers. '"The tax will be collected by the azents of the Government," said Hon. C;ieorge 8. Henry, Minister of Public Works and Highways. "Who will the agents of the Gov-- ornment get the tax from?" de-- manded Mr. Sinclair. "From the purchaser," said Mr. Hoeonry. Mr. Sinclair pictured an army of tax collectors trailing 250,000 motor-- ists to see that no rightful claim for tax was evaded. These sarcastic remarks roused the Premier. *"My honorable friepd shouldn't get absurd," he said, ris-- ing. "Absurd."' retorted the I,;be.ral Tieader. -- '"'It is <you people sitting there mute that are absurd.' The Premier explained that the gasoline tax obtained in -- various Provinces of Canada, and that there ; were different methods of colilection. | The Government was making in-- | quiries, information was being cn.l»x ected, "and then the Minister will | ecide the best method of éollection. |_ the tax will be imposed on the con-- amer. If we can't collect revenue w making a declaration of direct ] _ axation, the Province win"oe in | sore straits for its revenue. i Quebec Changes Mcethod. I He explained that Quebec hadl changed its method, and that in Al-- I berta the Government nominated the | big gasoline companies as agents. "I am delighted to know from the _ _|Prime Minister that they don't kno¥ how they are going to cc-l'lect' tlr:e tax," said Mr. Sinclair. '"That®s tte ndmission we have been tryin8 _ {0 get, and yet less than an hour :ufiig the Attorney--General said th"G' § _ _ |jbill was constitutionel." The g:d rnment last year had not _heCI°L #

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