Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to make my general comments with respect to the bill itself. Mr. Chairman, as a Standing Committee on Finance Member, I certainly did not have any problem with the concept and the principle of the bill in trying to tax the people who come into the north and go south and at the end of the year pay their taxes in other jurisdictions. That was the intention of this bill and I fully support that concept. However, as a Member, I want to advise the Minister of Finance that I was one of the Members who posed the most criticism with respect to the process used with regard to those whole payroll tax, particularly in the area of public consultation.

First of all, this bill was discussed, the committee brought forth its recommendations on February 17. One month later the Minister came back and agreed that there should be revisions and then we have taken it from March 19. The notice to the public was done after March 19, only in the Yellowknifer and News/North and I cannot why it was not done other papers across the territories. That is not public consultation. So, I was concerned about that and I expressed my concern in the committee.

The other area that I proposed to the Minister when he came to meet with the committee was because of the lack of consultation, because of people not understanding the bill in totality, the area of credits, if they live in the north they will get back their payroll tax, because they really do not understand the complexity of the bill, why not bring this bill back in November when we have our next session? Let the consultation process go through and even if you raised your percentage from November, December, January, February and March to be able to get your money in the revenue part for government, that was one area that should have been considered. They must have decided not to accept that idea.

I think the problem that we have is that there are many ordinary Members who do not understand the bill, do not understand that one per cent of your pay is going into this payroll tax, but up to a certain amount you will receive a credit. It is not only just another form of tax payment. The lower income people get a portion, or probably more than what they are going to be paying. That part of information did not go out in clear to the public, so it has been very difficult for them to understand that. They just look at it as a one per cent tax. If you get $1,500 on your pay cheque then $15 goes to the payroll tax. That is the only part they understand. It is because the bill was presented to us to catch the southern people who live in the south but come to work in the north, make their money in the north. That was the intention of the bill.

The only problem that many Members find themselves in, I think if the general public recognized the average payroll tax, for example, a person who makes $10,000 to $20,000 would pay on the payroll tax at least $26, they would receive a tax credit of $50. So, if this bill passes it benefits the people who make $10,000 to $20,000 by $25. For the people who make $20,000 to $30,000 they would have an average payroll tax of $105 per year. Their tax credit would be $173 and they would benefit by $68. If an individual made $30,000 to $40,000 they would pay $202, their average tax credit would be $269 so they would benefit by $67 if this tax was introduced. The people who make $40,000 to $50,000 would pay $305 on the average, receive a tax credit of $361, they would benefit by $56. The people who make $40,000 to $50,000 would pay $417, they would receive a tax credit of $450, so they would have a benefit of $33 plus their money back. It is when you get into the brackets of $60,000 to $70,000 the payroll tax then you start paying $618 and you get a credit of $601. Then you lose $18 out of an individual's pay. When you get into the tax bracket of $70,000 to $100,000 your average payroll tax is going to be $764, your average tax credit is going to be $641 so you end up paying overall $123. For individuals making from $100,000 to $200,000 they pay a payroll tax of at least $1,048, the average tax credit would be $643, therefore they would receive a $405 credit. So, they would end up paying.

Mr. Chairman, I do not believe that people understand this formula that this tax is going to be implemented on. It is because the information has not been out to the public. This tax bill was tabled, I agree, for the public to be able to look at it. However, the actual tax bill we are discussing is a different tax bill than what was tabled because there are about five changes to the initial tax bill that was tabled. We believe in the Standing Committee on Finance that those changes are for the better. We encouraged the Minister to change that tax bill and we appreciated that he did change it.

I will tell you the real problem, Mr. Chairman, and I had a problem with this. Every time we come to a session and something like this that is going to be controversial, may be too complex, we leave to the last minute. This session was supposed to close at 2:00 pm today, here it is 7:00 on a Friday night, we are still discussing trying to get this payroll tax in because we know we want to prorogue, we know we want to finish, we know we want to go home. So, here we are deliberating a bill that has over 70 clauses, over 50 pages. Again, sometimes I tell the government, poor, poor planning. That is what it is. It is not only poor planning on the government, it is the Legislative Assembly too because we should have kept telling them get that bill in the House. But, no, we leave everything for the last minute. That is where we have the problem. Now there is back room discussion, should we defer it. We do not feel comfortable with the amount of consultation in regard to this bill. That is where we have our problems. We create many of our problems.

Mr. Chairman, when I looked at this bill this morning, last night when we left here after 11:00 pm, thinking of this bill, I actually dreamt of this payroll tax bill, usually my work does not bother me. But, I feel strongly that the process undertaken has been too rushed. I feel it is really unfair and I really feel sorry for the Members who are not Members of the Standing Committee on Finance because they have to take this bill, absorb it all and vote on it. They depend on the Standing Committee on Finance to give them advice. The Standing Committee on Finance could not even come to a consensus.

So, I believe that is what has caused the problem. We did not allow enough time for such an important piece of legislation to be properly considered in the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Chairman, I do not think there is one Member in this House who does not agree with the principle of this bill. I believe every Member agrees with the principles because we all want the government to get more money, especially from those people who come in from the south, make their money in the north and go. We all want to support that concept, there is no doubt about it. I think the problem is with this payroll tax being applicable to every northern resident, many northern residents do not understand that they will get their money taken off their pay cheque back at the end of the year. That is the problem, people do not understand that.

Mr. Chairman, I wish the government luck when they explain this bill as we go through it clause by clause. I could probably say we will be here until midnight and I doubt if we will still have this bill changed, or else it will be like other sessions, where I have seen sessions where you take a thick piece of legislation and all you hear is agreed, agreed, agreed, agreed so we can get out. But that is a disservice to the public. Let me tell you, if we defeat this bill this will be a lesson, especially for the government on the planning. I just about voted to teach you guys a lesson, voted against. However, because I really support the principle, I support the bill, but I really do not feel good about the voting because I do not believe I am voting in a proper manner. I think that is the same dilemma many of my colleagues on this side of the House are in, they feel the same way. I know if I put forth a motion to defer this bill we would probably carry that motion, not to be disruptive but to make sure we are passing a piece of legislation that we want, is good for all the people of the north, and the people of the north particularly to understand this piece of legislation. Yet we know that the government, financially, needs the money. So, we are in a situation where we are damned if we do and damned if we do not. I do not know if that is unparliamentary, and if it is I apologize. We want to leave you to have the money to let you do what we want, but it is the way we are getting the money so quickly with a complex bill we are concerned about. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.