VANCOUVER – A Statistics Canada report has confirmed that Canadians are no better off after the Conservative government’s much-touted GST cut, Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum said today.

Statistics Canada confirmed today that, since the July 1st GST cut came into effect, Canadians have been paying higher prices, even after taking the GST cut into account.

"One of the report’s headlines says it all: GST reduction offset by price increases in July".

The fact that Canadians are no better off after the expensive GST cut should come as no surprise. I’ve been saying all along that the GST cut, while sounding nice, will produce little benefit for Canadians," said Mr. McCallum.

"First of all, there is no GST on what most Canadians spend most of their money on - groceries, rent and mortgage payments. And second, a lot of the tax cut simply won’t get passed on to consumers - think of parking meters and movie tickets."

Mr. McCallum pointed out that another disappointing aspect is that the Conservatives raised income taxes to pay for this invisible GST cut.

"As of July 1st, the income tax gouge on every Canadian’s paycheque is bigger thanks to the Conservative government. What’s worse, they threw 200,000 Canadians back on the tax rolls," said Mr. McCallum. "And for what? For a GST cut that Canadians won’t feel because prices even after that cut are still higher."