The people of British Columbia have spoken. The Harmonized Sales Tax initiative sprung on them in a totally underhanded manner by Stephen Harper's new ambassador to Britain has gone down in flames on a public referendum vote. It was defeated on a 55-45 split.
Disgraced premier Campbell's stand-in, Christie Clark, claims to have a Plan B option in the wings to deal with the HST rejection but she's yet to disclose it. Given that it could cement her fate at the polls in the next election she'll have to tread very carefully.
Showing posts with label HST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HST. Show all posts
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, September 02, 2010
BC Liberals' HST Talking Points Turn Into Bear Trap for Premier, FinMin
They lied - in harmony - and now they've been caught.
British Columbia's illiberal premier, Gordo Campbell, and his finance minister, Colin Hansen, emphatically denied the Harmonized Sales Tax or HST was in the works prior to the last election, in May, 2009, even though they announced it shortly afterward.
These characters even used the same parlance to make their point. Both said it wasn't even on their "radar" during the spring of 2009.
Now documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that Campbell was being briefed by staff on the HST no later than January of that year. Discussions, possibly negotiations, between Victoria and Ottawa were underway by at least March, 2009, well prior to the May elections.
In the midst of the election campaign, Campbell's government repeatedly denied the HST was even under consideration.
As for the benefits of the HST, the Campbell government received an assessment from the CD Howe Institute that the HST would cause a drop in GST and trigger unemployment and that it could take five years to recover.
This could be the death knell sounding for the British Columbia "LINO" Liberals. The public was already angry at the way the HST had been sprung on them - without consultation, without warning and after having been denied in an election three months earlier. Now to learn the premier and his finance minister were lying through their teeth about it puts this straight over the top.
Campbell hasn't got many choices at this point. He and his finance minister can try to buy the government some time by resigning in disgrace. He can try to wait it out and be the first government to fall on BC's recall legislation. Or he can call an election and hand the keys over to the NDP's Carol James which, for her, would be a win by forfeiture.
Well Ottawa is completely boring these days so at least we have plenty of fireworks in Victoria to look forward to.
British Columbia's illiberal premier, Gordo Campbell, and his finance minister, Colin Hansen, emphatically denied the Harmonized Sales Tax or HST was in the works prior to the last election, in May, 2009, even though they announced it shortly afterward.
These characters even used the same parlance to make their point. Both said it wasn't even on their "radar" during the spring of 2009.
Now documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that Campbell was being briefed by staff on the HST no later than January of that year. Discussions, possibly negotiations, between Victoria and Ottawa were underway by at least March, 2009, well prior to the May elections.
In the midst of the election campaign, Campbell's government repeatedly denied the HST was even under consideration.
As for the benefits of the HST, the Campbell government received an assessment from the CD Howe Institute that the HST would cause a drop in GST and trigger unemployment and that it could take five years to recover.
This could be the death knell sounding for the British Columbia "LINO" Liberals. The public was already angry at the way the HST had been sprung on them - without consultation, without warning and after having been denied in an election three months earlier. Now to learn the premier and his finance minister were lying through their teeth about it puts this straight over the top.
Campbell hasn't got many choices at this point. He and his finance minister can try to buy the government some time by resigning in disgrace. He can try to wait it out and be the first government to fall on BC's recall legislation. Or he can call an election and hand the keys over to the NDP's Carol James which, for her, would be a win by forfeiture.
Well Ottawa is completely boring these days so at least we have plenty of fireworks in Victoria to look forward to.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Welcome to Black Market Canada
Harmonized sales tax descends on Ontario and British Columbia today. According to some estimates that'll mean an additional $500-800 a year out of the pockets of the average BC family. But will it?
The tax is enormously unpopular. The way the BC Libs snuck it in and then lied through their teeth about it that's entirely predictable. What's also predictable is that plenty of people will be looking for ways to trim back that tax bill, to recoup those extra dollars they'll lose at the cash registers. We'll do what people in other countries have done for centuries. Welcome to Black Market Canada where deals are done in cash and the taxman is cut out of the loop.
The Canadian Press reports that the anticipated blowback to the HST has a lot of the service industry very, very worried:
Craig Bennett is sick of hearing customers threaten to take their roofing requests to under-the-table competitors and he believes business is only going to get worse for legit services now that the harmonized sales tax has officially hit in Ontario and British Columbia.
"There will be a thriving black market," says Bennett, deputy director of Toronto-based Avenue Road Roofing. "I think (the HST is) going to be wreaking havoc for people in the service industry," he adds.
...service-oriented business owners are skeptical about any benefits because the HST will be attached to a host of their offerings — from home maintenance to massage therapy to tennis lessons — that were previously exempt from the provincial tax.
Stephen Dupuis, president of the Building Industry and Land Development Association, says the underground economy is already a huge problem in the renovation and home repair industries, but will grow even more when the HST comes in, just as it did when the GST hit in 1991, he says.
There's a lesson to this. People pay tax by consent. If they don't consent to a tax, if they don't consider a tax legitimate, they will find ways around it or ways to offset it. Once under the table cash deals become acceptable in the public's mind, it's government that has a problem.
The tax is enormously unpopular. The way the BC Libs snuck it in and then lied through their teeth about it that's entirely predictable. What's also predictable is that plenty of people will be looking for ways to trim back that tax bill, to recoup those extra dollars they'll lose at the cash registers. We'll do what people in other countries have done for centuries. Welcome to Black Market Canada where deals are done in cash and the taxman is cut out of the loop.
The Canadian Press reports that the anticipated blowback to the HST has a lot of the service industry very, very worried:
Craig Bennett is sick of hearing customers threaten to take their roofing requests to under-the-table competitors and he believes business is only going to get worse for legit services now that the harmonized sales tax has officially hit in Ontario and British Columbia.
"There will be a thriving black market," says Bennett, deputy director of Toronto-based Avenue Road Roofing. "I think (the HST is) going to be wreaking havoc for people in the service industry," he adds.
...service-oriented business owners are skeptical about any benefits because the HST will be attached to a host of their offerings — from home maintenance to massage therapy to tennis lessons — that were previously exempt from the provincial tax.
Stephen Dupuis, president of the Building Industry and Land Development Association, says the underground economy is already a huge problem in the renovation and home repair industries, but will grow even more when the HST comes in, just as it did when the GST hit in 1991, he says.
There's a lesson to this. People pay tax by consent. If they don't consent to a tax, if they don't consider a tax legitimate, they will find ways around it or ways to offset it. Once under the table cash deals become acceptable in the public's mind, it's government that has a problem.
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