VAT in a Federal System: Lessons from Canada

Abstract

Canadians developed and implemented a sales tax system that no one in their right mind would have designed from scratch. Nonetheless, more by accident than design, Canada ended up being a bold innovator in sales tax policy and administration in several important respects. For decades, academics had argued almost unanimously that one could not impose a standard invoice-credit destination-based value added tax (VAT) at the subnational level of government. Canada's almost two decades of experience demonstrates conclusively that this view is incorrect: not only can it be done, but it has been done, and done well. Moreover, Canadian experience also demonstrates that a federal VAT can work perfectly well in a country in which some subnational units have their own VATs, some have their own retail sales taxes (RSTs), and some have no sales tax at all.

Keywords: VAT, GST, Canada, dual VAT

JEL Classification: H25, H71