The HST: B.C. shrieks, Ontario shrugs

[ZeitgeistObserver]

The HST: B.C. shrieks, Ontario shrugs

New tax sparks referendum talk on West Coast. One furious family's protest: Moving to France
Published On Fri Apr 30 2010

By Petti Fong Western Bureau

VANCOUVER—The most common reaction Toronto salesman Mark Gage Currie gets when he tells customers he has to add a new tax on to their bill is a shrug.

In Squamish, B.C., developer Doug Day is so furious with the HST he's shuttered a multi-million-dollar project and is moving to France with his family in protest.

British Columbia will pass into law Friday a much-despised tax that has seen the three-term Liberals plummet in the polls, new allegiances forged between the left and the right and the return of a former premier who is bringing thousands of people out at protest rallies.

In B.C., the tax was announced days after the Liberals won their third majority last May and opposition has been steadily building. The HST combines the 7 per cent provincial sales tax with the 5 per cent federal GST and takes effect May 1 for services delivered after July 1, the day the new tax becomes law.

Ontario's HST takes effect at the same time, but with less opposition.


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/802749--the-hst-b-c-shrieks-ontario-shrugs

[edwinmathews]

1. The opposition

is building here in Ontario . Many of us that are self employed intend to offer cash deals to customers to circumvent this tax as we are being smothered with taxes.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

2. There is no opposition to it.

As the article says, Ontarians shrug.

It will actually be helpful to small businesses because it cuts down the paperwork.

[daleo]

3. I don't really understand the opposition

For the most part, it's just adding the two taxes together, just like the cash register does.

Someone moves to France over this (as if France is a low tax haven)?

Alliances between left and right often mean an issue is populist baloney.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

4. Knee jerk reaction to the word 'taxes'.

Rationality doesn't seem to come into it for some people.

[Rainforestgoddess]

5. the problem is the 'services' part

of the tax. Currently, in BC, we don't pay PST on services, just goods. So the people in the service industries are worried about people pulling back and spending less due to the tax. Particularly services that are luxuries. I'm kind of on the fence. I mean,we have to pay off the Olympics somehow, right?

at the same time corporate tax is dropping to 10% apparently (that's what my accountant told me a few days ago anyway) The govt claims that the tax savings will be passed down to consumers, to which I reply *snort*.

[BolivarianHero]

6. The religious loonies would rather creation a moral panic over positive changes to sex-ed...

then address real issues.