How far do we get pushed before we say we're mad as hell and not going to take it any more?
Ask yourself when we were ever asked to determine our tax system or any decision for that matter? This is historic - the only time in Canada, probably the only time in our lifetime we can make a government do what we want rather than what they tell us.
The video promoting the HST cherry picked points and ignored the fact we don't manufacture that many finished goods for domestic market.
Look at Europe - their VAT's have been part of their economic destruction. They all started at 8-9% and now some of them are over 20%. It's easy for a politician to say the rate will go up 1% every few years and before you know it we're in 20% range.
The VAT's have spurred huge underground economies and to make up for lost revenue governments have had to keep jacking up the VAT rates.
And remember, the PROMISE to reduce the HST to 10% in three years is a Liberal PROMISE - about as reliable as a fart in a windstorm.
The same people that promised:
- not to introduce the tax before the last election - A Lie.
- The tax would be revenue neutral - A Lie.
- Consumer prices would drop when business savings were passed on - A Lie.
- Jobs would be created - A Lie. We've lost jobs.
- The economy would be stimulated - A Lie. We're lagging behind provinces without the HST
- We will have to pay back $1.6 billion to the feds - A Lie. We haven't even been given the full amount yet and we haven't begun to bargain. In any event - they have collected in the first year enough to pay back what's owed.
- Telling us (with our own money) the HST will be cheaper at 10% - A Lie. 10% (if it ever happens) of everything costs a whole lot more than12% of a few things. And an HST, once in place has nowhere to go but up.
There you have it folks, the gospel according to some guy by the name of Cock Throppled. Unfortunately, his gospel is full of his opinions rather than facts. And you know what they say about opinions...
I don't want to influence how anyone vote but I hope people will based their decision for the right reasons. If you want to punish the Liberals, save it for the election. Vote yes if you truly believe the old GST and PST regime is better than the HST. Vote no if you truly belive the HST is better than the old GST and PST regime. Educate yourself before you make your decision. Check out the Independent Panel Report here:
http://www.hstinbc.ca/making_your_choice/independent_panel/ If you are too busy to read 20 odd pages, here is the summary:
REPORT SUMMARY
The choice you face on the HST and PST/GST is a big one. It comes down to balancing the savings you and your family will get by going back to the PST against the longer-term economic benefits that staying with the HST will bring British Columbians in the years ahead.
The immediate impact of the HST on your family pocketbook is clear.
Unless you are among the 15 per cent of families with an income under $10,000 a year, you’re paying more sales tax under the HST than you would under the PST/GST: On average about $350 per family.
And that doesn’t include the HST you will pay on occasional, big-ticket items like buying a newly built house or putting on a new roof, which are no longer exempt from the PST.
If you vote to go back to the PST/GST, all those added sales tax costs would disappear. You will have more money in your pocket.
That decision, however, has longer term consequences.
Going back to the PST/GST means turning away from the gradual future economic benefits expected with the HST. Those include a simpler sales tax system now used by more than 140 other countries and a more competitive economy, where goods and services are cheaper to produce, boosting our exports, attracting investment and creating better-paying jobs.
Our panel acknowledges it’s hard to put concrete numbers to these future benefits. However, our independent analysis predicts staying with the HST will mean a B.C. economy in 2020 that will:
• Be $2.5 billion larger than it would be under the PST. That’s about $480 per person or $830 per family.
• Produce $1.2 billion more in the export of goods and services.
• Create an additional 24,400 better-paying jobs.
In the context of a $200-billion economy, these are important—albeit modest — benefits. But they will make B.C. more competitive in the global marketplace.
Your decision also has serious ramifications for the provincial budget.
The HST taxes the growing part of our economy — services — and will provide extra revenue to fund hospitals, schools, roads and other important public services you rely on. In contrast, moving back to the PST/GST will likely mean refunding the federal government $1.6 billion in transition money and, in the first year alone, put a $531-million hole in the provincial budget. It’s not a simple choice before you. Our independent panel has given you the best overview we could to weigh the arguments. Now it’s your decision.
