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What have MDs done to deserve this? CMA president asks
Canadian Medical Association Journal 1997; 156; 11
Unfair application of the goods and services tax had cost Canadian physicians more than $350 million by the end of 1996, Dr. Judith Kazimirski told the Standing Committee on Finance during pre-budget hearings held this fall. Physicians don't want special treatment, said the CMA president, but they do want to be treated like other self-employed professionals who are allowed to claim input tax credits.
"Physicians are being singled out and discriminated against because medical services are designated as tax exempt," she said. "No issue has raised the ire of individual practitioners as much as the imposition of this unfair and inequitable tax." Kazimirski said physicians pay $57.2 million annually -- roughly $1000 per practising physician -- in excess GST payments because they are not allowed to use the input tax credits claimed by other professionals such as lawyers.
| CMAJ January 1, 1997 (vol 156, no 1) |