Before the Government moves to expand the provincial sales tax (PST) in the provincial budget less than two weeks from now, they should first make the tax simpler and fairer. To that end, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has just presented the Finance Minister with a petition of 29,000 names demanding that Saskatchewan treaty Indians pay PST on off-reserve purchases.

Certainly, the petitioners are in good company. The petition reflects the laws in every other province (except of course PST free Alberta) that charges Native people sales taxes on purchases made off the reserve. The ability of provincial governments to levy sales taxes on Native people off reserve have also been upheld by the courts. And, the report by the government's own Personal Income Tax Review Committee tabled in November 1999 proposed an end to the Native PST exemption.

Simply put, fair tax policy must be based on economics, not genetics. The people of Saskatchewan need and deserve tax relief and tax reform, but both must be based on the principle of tax fairness. Racially-based tax exemptions are not practical or fair, and have no place in 21st century Saskatchewan.

Unfair exemptions for some means unfair burdens for others. If the number of Native people in Saskatchewan continues to increase relative to the rest of the population, as is predicted, the broad-based PST exemption for treaty Indians will ultimately mean higher taxes for everyone else and the starvation of social funding on which many poorer Natives depend.

Native leaders say that they have somehow "pre-paid" their taxes by agreeing to share the land with others. But they must remember that while we must all share the land, we must also all share the responsibility of paying for important social services and government programs that we all value and rely on.

Some Natives believe that their tax-free status stems from their treaties. But, in fact, there is not a single reference to taxes in any of the treaties - the tax exemptions for Native people on reserve originate from Section 87 of the Indian Act. (It should be noted, however, that these exemptions were originally provided only to prevent Indians from losing their reserves through the imposition of liens and other levies on their land.)

Others say that charging PST on off-reserve purchases will give reserve-based businesses a commercial advantage. But this ignores the fact that there are already broad property, sales, and income tax exemptions already in place on reserves. There is no reason to think if the 6% sales tax exemption off-reserve was eliminated, that there would be a large-scale migration of businesses onto reserves.

All citizens, regardless of race, should not be made poor because of taxes. But we should be helping people through the tax system based on need, not on the colour of their skin.

Currently, the Treaty 8 Indian bands (covering much of northern areas of Western Canada) are in court fighting to be exempted from all taxes for now, for all time, everywhere in Canada. The CTF is seeking intervenor status to argue that the tax exemptions Natives receive are not treaty rights, and even if they were, it would be a violation of section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensures all Canadians are equal under the law.

Rather, a prosperous Canada needs fair and reasonable taxes and the contribution of all its citizens to succeed.