The fact that you pass off your opinions as facts for one
.Not really, but I am willing to bet you that they will reduce the rate to 10% as promised. And I truly believe that the HST is better than the old regime.
HST - how are you planning to vote?
- Thread starter whoisjohngalt
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.Fill in the blanks - WHAT facts are wrong? Which lies are not lies?The fact that you pass off your opinions as facts for one
Not really, but I am willing to bet you that they will reduce the rate to 10% as promised. And I truly believe that the HST is better than the old regime.
The report itself acknowledges it is impossible to say what the benefits will be, but they guess by 2020 what they MIGHT be. By 2020? WTF? Who can possibly know what economic conditions will be like that far forward?
Even if the Liberals get re-elected and the rate dropped to 10% by 2014 how long do you think it would stay at that rate? Once in place we're there for the plucking forever.
What's stopping them from raising the PST to 8 or even 10% and/or removing a bunch of exemptions in place previously if the HST got voted down?
I'll vote to get rid of it on general principles that the Libs lied when they said they weren't thinking about the HST before the election. Plus the fact that they took $400 million out of icbc last year & put it in general revenue, plus the fact that Christy Clark didn't back the Washington group when they bid on the contract for the new ferries. But as long as its federal money, shes all over it.Tax money is tax money & it all comes out of our pocket.The libs have had 10 years at the trough, time for new hogs to belly up to the trough.
I think this is the #1 reason that we should keep the HST.
Inter-provincial competition.
Here is a prime example of this.
The other jurisdictions all have the HST. If we don't, we will reduce the ability to compete with Ontario, Quebec and other areas with the HST.
Loss of competition = loss of jobs. Plain and simple.
Inter-provincial competition.
Here is a prime example of this.
And here's the kicker:
The other jurisdictions all have the HST. If we don't, we will reduce the ability to compete with Ontario, Quebec and other areas with the HST.
Loss of competition = loss of jobs. Plain and simple.
Well you better love taxes and plenty of them. If the tax and spend NDP get in, I think we will look back and long for the day of a 10% HST
Be it taxes or 'service charges', 2 tiered health care,we're gonna get screwed. It doesn't matter if its a liberal or an ndp'er thats doing the screwing.
The referendum is on what's best for us as British Columbians. To throw away the benefits of the HST, and play with the future of the province, to "send a message" is missing the point. If you want to "send a message" to the Liberals, then you do it by voting against them in the next election, not by voting for a worse future for us civilians.
Has no bearing on that type of contract.
These contract decisions are completely political.
I'll add that this increase in sales tax is already offset by income tax reductions. So, what would people prefer: sales tax, where you only get taxed if you spend, or income tax, where you get taxed regardless of what you do with your money?
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For every 1% drop in the HST= 900 million dollars outta the governments pocket, how are they gonna make that up? I'm sure they've already figured that one out, remember they've hired B.C's best & brightest.Least that's what they keep telling us when there trying to justify there huge pay increases & gold plated pensions. I honestly don't think people should be allowed to be career politicians,geez the federal budget is over 200 billion annually! i wonder how much of that makes it back to all those political supporters e.g. big fat contracts. Politicians couldn't care less about us, all they want from us is to pay our taxes, don't get sick & preferably die before we're old enough to collect our pensions.
For all you economists posting in this thread, you should certainly realize why governments love consumption / value added taxes such as the HST. Businesses only pay the tax portion on the "value added by their manufacture/upgrade/distribution etc" of the product or service...they get to keep the remaining tax that you (the consumer) PAID ON THE FULL AMOUNT, to offset taxes they paid on the inputs. Thus most businesses love value added taxes as in theory they equal more profits....But what about the elasticity of spending by the average middle class consumer, who does not pay less tax in this system, and most likely pays more. They now reduce and think twice about their discretionary spending on anything that is not essential.
Very poor people will benefit from an HST, as they consume very little of the goods and services that consumption taxes are paid on, and they also receive additional tax credits and reimbursements on their personal income taxes, that the middle class is deprived of even more now that the HST is initiated.
Income taxes go down the least, if at all, for the average Joe making a reasonable wage who is now paying extra consumption taxes on anything involving discretionary spending. I myself pay far more with the HST than with the previous combination of PST/GST....I frequent restaurants, go to movies, take martial arts lessons, have a personal trainer, gym membership etc.....ALL THESE THINGS I FORMERLY PAID 5% tax on and now pay 12% thanks to a Liberal pre-election LIE. This government is now spending vast amounts of YOUR money producing and airing repeated ads in prime time slots to sway voters to keep the HST. Look at the irony in that.
We have a chance to right a wrong; first time in Canadian history...and don't believe all the double talk from the same liberals about how costly it will be to remove the HST and repay the federal funds....how much of the original federal incentives ever hit your pockets in a positive way?
Very poor people will benefit from an HST, as they consume very little of the goods and services that consumption taxes are paid on, and they also receive additional tax credits and reimbursements on their personal income taxes, that the middle class is deprived of even more now that the HST is initiated.
Income taxes go down the least, if at all, for the average Joe making a reasonable wage who is now paying extra consumption taxes on anything involving discretionary spending. I myself pay far more with the HST than with the previous combination of PST/GST....I frequent restaurants, go to movies, take martial arts lessons, have a personal trainer, gym membership etc.....ALL THESE THINGS I FORMERLY PAID 5% tax on and now pay 12% thanks to a Liberal pre-election LIE. This government is now spending vast amounts of YOUR money producing and airing repeated ads in prime time slots to sway voters to keep the HST. Look at the irony in that.
We have a chance to right a wrong; first time in Canadian history...and don't believe all the double talk from the same liberals about how costly it will be to remove the HST and repay the federal funds....how much of the original federal incentives ever hit your pockets in a positive way?
In general, I'm all for a VAT as a replacement for income taxes. Let me keep all my money so my spending habits will dictate my taxation level. Having said that I have two problems with the HST. Ist is homes. Homes are not a commodity. A home is an investment. Some of you may argue that but the potential capital gain is taxable which qualifies it that way. If one investment is taxable when purchased, shouldn't all investments be taxed at purchase? Bad idea. Second is restaurant food and drink, especially drink, since all licensed establishments pay full retail for liquor and then have to mark it up again to make a profit. In my day I paid a license fee on top of that of 5% more but I'm not certain if that's still the case) I don't have exact figures but tax on booze is like tax on gasoline. When the manufacturer profits even a high 10% after all costs it's absurd for government to profit by 8 to 10 TIMES that amount for collecting taxes and then you want me to pay more tax on top of THAT tax - waddarufrigginnuts? And don't even get me started on manufacturing taxes etc. Who pays for all that Sh*t? The guy who buys the friggin product (that would be YOU) but hey kids in Afghanistan need expensive Canadian tanks to play with right?
But yeah, other than that I'm all for a VAT if you take away an equivalent amount in income tax.
But yeah, other than that I'm all for a VAT if you take away an equivalent amount in income tax.
Anyone putting lot of credence into to so-called independent report has to remember a few things.
The people doing the report also do a lot of work for the businesses and politicians supporting the HST.
It's kind of like being hired to paint the king's portrait and you make him look like Brad Pitt instead of the Verne Troyer he really is. If you want more work give them a nice polish.
The report is prognosticating a decade into the future the purported benefits of the HST. I defy anyone to know what their household budget structure will be 10 years down the road let alone an entire province. It may as well be based on tea leaves. There are so many variables over a ten year span - natural disasters, food supplies, transportation costs, disease outbreaks, political turmoil, transportation costs, neighbouring tax changes, world economic outlooks, etc etc. You can only draw a line based on current knowledge.
How many who wrote that report produced one in 1998 detailing the economic melt-down in September 2008?
Base your vote on facts, logic and how it impacts YOU. Consumers will lose $2 billion in the tax shift. Consumers with less money spend less or demand more. Hello inflation. Hello a bigger underground economy.
The people doing the report also do a lot of work for the businesses and politicians supporting the HST.
It's kind of like being hired to paint the king's portrait and you make him look like Brad Pitt instead of the Verne Troyer he really is. If you want more work give them a nice polish.
The report is prognosticating a decade into the future the purported benefits of the HST. I defy anyone to know what their household budget structure will be 10 years down the road let alone an entire province. It may as well be based on tea leaves. There are so many variables over a ten year span - natural disasters, food supplies, transportation costs, disease outbreaks, political turmoil, transportation costs, neighbouring tax changes, world economic outlooks, etc etc. You can only draw a line based on current knowledge.
How many who wrote that report produced one in 1998 detailing the economic melt-down in September 2008?
Base your vote on facts, logic and how it impacts YOU. Consumers will lose $2 billion in the tax shift. Consumers with less money spend less or demand more. Hello inflation. Hello a bigger underground economy.
You really need to take a refresher course on Economics. Consumers with less money means less demand for goods and services, less demand drives prices down. Does that sound like inflation to you?
The biggest undergroung economy is the drug trade, anything else pales in comparison. I don't see the HST having an effect on the drug trade, do you?
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It pleases me that there are sensible people out there who can separate logic from emotion and evaluate the HST on its merits, regardless of how one feels about the Liberal Party or Gordon Campbell. I only hope that these same people return their referendum ballots in greater numbers than the Lib-haters.
I still have yet to hear one well reasoned argument on why the PST is better than the HST.
I would like to address the concept of the HST being a tax shift from business to consumers. I would like to point out that businesses don't pay tax as such. They either pass the taxes on to their customers, or they shut down if they are no longer profitable enough to justify remaining open. So to argue that the HST is a tax shift to consumers is a red herring since ultimately consumers pay all taxes, either directly or in the form of higher prices for goods and services.
I still have yet to hear one well reasoned argument on why the PST is better than the HST.
I would like to address the concept of the HST being a tax shift from business to consumers. I would like to point out that businesses don't pay tax as such. They either pass the taxes on to their customers, or they shut down if they are no longer profitable enough to justify remaining open. So to argue that the HST is a tax shift to consumers is a red herring since ultimately consumers pay all taxes, either directly or in the form of higher prices for goods and services.
consumption taxes are yet another attempt at regressive taxation.
tax the rich!
as the owner of a corporation, i paid 8% on all income last year! and i'm just a little guy!
if you're taxed at source then you are a slave! and then they slap a consumption tax on you! looser! revolt!
i grew up poor... i'm shouting the truth to the masses!
tax the rich!
as the owner of a corporation, i paid 8% on all income last year! and i'm just a little guy!
if you're taxed at source then you are a slave! and then they slap a consumption tax on you! looser! revolt!
i grew up poor... i'm shouting the truth to the masses!
You remind me of a friend who has been on EI for about 10 months and has since found a full time job but can't stop bitching about the $50 EI premiums that's being withheld from his pay cheque.
Wow, the libs are projected to take $500 million outta icbc this year & put it in general revenue! Guess thats where the 2% drop in the hst is gonna come from. I'm gonna just get the basic insurance from icbc & get my extras from private insurance.1.5 trillion in household debt people,thats mortgages,credit cards,lines of credit.
I don't mind paying the $50 for ei, what pisses me off is when they take billions outta the ei fund & drop it in general revenue.
