Help us make this an important election issue.
Each year School Boards across Canada make almost $200 Million in GST payments to the Federal Government. This enormous amount of your tax money is erased from the budgets of these organizations which are already struggling to give our kids the best education possible. These yearly ongoing payments range from $42,000 from School District #19 in Revelstoke, British Columbia to a three year total of $21.3 Million dollars from the TDSB or about 7.1 million per year, which is about $12,700 per school. All that money could have been used for textbooks, more teachers and other necessities.
Thomas Wells Public School in Scarborough.
When Thomas Wells Public School was recently built in Scarborough, the school board paid about $302,000 in GST. Yet when the Federal or Provincial Government builds a new prison they are GST exempt. Something is wrong here, don't you agree?
In December 2006, Members of Parliament from all parties on the federal finance committee recommended a 100% GST rebate for school boards, colleges, universities and hospitals. This is an important move that one MP called a "no brainer." MPs and all parties from across the country have called on the Minister of Finance to support our schools. We need to once again tell all candidates that taxing our schools has got to go.
History of the GST and Schools
School boards have been paying GST since its inception in 1991. In February 2004, then Liberal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale decided to rebate cities and towns 100% of their GST payments, but school boards were left out of this "new deal for cities". School boards continue to pay GST on all goods and services except textbooks and food; they are then are rebated 68% of the GST after submitting a claim. This means that school boards pay a net GST rate of about 2% on a range of essential items, including:- Pencils, paper, workbooks, art supplies, videos
- Computers, software, peripherals, consumables
- Musical instruments, sports equipment, transportations services
- Utilities, such as electricity, water and natural gas
- Construction materials and services (increasing the cost of school construction and renovations)
- Professional fees, including benefits administration, legal fees and consultants
This makes no sense.
In December 2006, Members of Parliament from all parties on the federal finance committee recommended a 100% GST rebate for school boards, colleges, universities and hospitals. This is an important move that one MP called a "no brainer." MPs and all parties from across the country have called on the Minister of Finance to support our schools. We need to once again tell all candidates that taxing our schools has got to go.
