Goods and Services Tax
Concerns of Fraser Valley Regional Library Page 3

4, Double Charging on Imported Books - Many Canadian publishers
rely on sales of books from the United States and the United
Kingdom, that they distribute in Canada, to support their
publishing operations of Canadian materials for which the
market is small. Given the design of the GST, such imports
Will likely have GST added at the border and again when the
imports aie sold in Canada. This will place Canadian
publishers at a price disadvantage over American wholesalers
who export directly into Canada to libraries and bookstores
and wil] only pay GST once when materials cross the border.

At this time many -facts about the GST are unclear. What jis clear,
however, 1s that there will be a negative financial effect on libraries.
Given the very lean budgets that FYRL works with, such effects will have

to be dealt with either by increased local tax supports or service
cutbacks.

GST
February 7, 1990