Premier John Savage said today Nova Scotia is opposed to a harmonized tax on books and has conveyed that message to the federal government. We have spent some time examining the effect such a tax might have on the availability of books. We have come to the conclusion that at a time when we are attempting to promote literacy in Nova Scotia, a harmonized tax on books is cause for concern.
Consumers now pay the seven per cent goods and services tax when they purchase reading material.
At the moment there is no provincial sales tax on books. However, under harmonization the two would be combined and a 15 cent tax applied. I instructed Finance Minister Bill Gillis to put Nova Scotia's case for exempting books from the harmonized tax when Mr. Gillis met recently with federal Finance Minister Paul Martin. We are awaiting a response from the federal government.