Harper should have left the GST at 7%, and continue to lower the personal tax rate(s)....yeah, you hate taxes, but you also get sick, need poilce and firemen...the consumption tax - gst - is based on how much you consume (on items other than food, medical prescriptions)...that is the method by which to tax...oh, but wait (so you would say), the cost at the retail level would be too high...wrong...the amount of taxwithheld at point of purchase is mighty low compared to paying .215 on every dollar made after 10K.....a flat tax doesn't work, but the smartest move any of you can do is start a small business..yeah it will lose money...on paper...for tax purposes...for about 3 to 4 yrs you can translate that loss into a higher refund, but the independent business person is the business person that usually hires more employees than the average corporation and you can spend the refund in your local economy and create more locla jobs....look taxes are a very personal item, but MOST people are so ignorant of How to budget their own finances that it seems like they forget the old saying, "he who is without sin, cast the first stone" & pretty well everyone is in some kind of personal debt...everyone..so how can someone that can't even manage their own debt tell everyone else in the country that they know better than the government.....including the so-called rich people...in fact, some rich people play as if they are rich, but in fact they owe credit card companies, have mortgages and student loans.....these same wannabe rich are in fact poor, and just don't want to pay the % due to the government...the same government that provides health care that won't bankrupt them if they didn't have coverage, that provides police to ensure that the poor don't steal the rich people's stuff (note police are not meant to protect people, but property - you can look it up)....the fact is that an entity the size of the government has the collateral to borrow from that allows the creation of an economy that can survive a recession...relying upon individual wealth to sustain a successful econoomy is a pipedream....there was even a time in history that tulips were considered a currency...lol...and none of you have provided a relevant and workable adjustment, other than leaving someone out of the economic loop......your opinion may have value in your home, but can you answer me one question?....what is gold's underlying value?...we can't eat it??..I think they still use it for the lining of wiring, for teeth (not recommended)...but what else does gold do for us??....you see, if you can't explain how gold - probably the most irrelevant item on the planet - is considered the most valuable commodity (other than information) on the planet, then what does it matter that governments base their currency on their gold?? yeah the US took their dollar off the gold standard in the 70s, but they still made sure that the gold at the bottom of the twin towers was removed after 911.......debts are not relevant when there is no inflation....and every dollar spent on a government job has a withholding tax (consider it a cutback to the government) and some government employees are not allowed to start small businesses in their relam of knowledge - for example CRA employees are banned from practicing tax - so most government employees give the proper due in tax...which is more than I should be able to say about any of you.......Minimumize the tax by learning the ITA...don't complain about the free education that you get and use that education to change your personal finances from the red to the black....and if you didn't know, now you know......