Even a broken clock is right twice, even a blind squirrel can find a nut, and every once in a very long while the Chavez loving, enviro-nazi sympathizing left wing lunatics at the NDP hit upon a good idea, to wit, the notion that we should remove the GST from tampons and other assorted feminine hygeniene products. More accurately we should simply remove the GST, full stop. There is no such thing as a 'good tax'. Planners who practically salivate over the fact that excise taxes "reduce consumption" (as if they alone knew what was best for every man, woman and child in this country and how they should save or spend their money, despite radically different time preferences, value scales and desired ends for different individuals) fail to recognize that sales taxes are actually imputed back to factors of production. They are, in effect, a tax on income, haphazardly and unfairly applied. While savings is a crucial component of future economic growth it is not the role of economists to instruct people on what their ends should be; an economist can only comment on whether a given means is suitable for attaining a particular ends. Every individual is different, and the decision on whether they should save or consume their income is an entirely unique one to each person.
But while we should certainly remove the GST from all goods and services it's important not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If the political will is not there to help all people equally, then certainly we should join in the efforts of some to help some, lackluster and halfhearted though this drive may be. So bravo to Irene Mathysene and the rest of the womyn in the NDP and bravo to the federal government for agreeing to sign on to this crusade. Presumably the movement will continue onward to agitate for the repeal of taxes on birkenstock sandals, pant suits and patchouli oil. Hallelujah.
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