HST Repayment Dims Otherwise Rosy Fiscal Year
Prince George, BC – The Province of BC ended the 2011-2012 fiscal year with a deficit of $1.84-billion dollars…
Included in that deficit is the one-time repayment of $1.6-billion dollars of HST transitional funding. In releasing the year’s Public Accounts today, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon says the province would have posted a deficit on just $241-million without the repayment and, excluding that $1.6b, overall government spending was held to an increase of 2.6-percent compared to the Budget 2011 forecast of 4.3-percent.
Falcon says, "Through continued prudent fiscal management, (the) government is on track to eliminate the deficit and return to a balanced budget in 2013-2014."
According to preliminary data from Statistics Canada, the BC economy grew 2.9-prcent in 2011 – third among provinces and better than the national average rate of 2.6-percent.
"British Columbia stands out globally as a safe harbour for investment because our government continues to keep spending and debt under control," says the finance minister. "The huge debt and deficits facing European governments clearly shows the perils of the tax-borrow-and-spend mentality."
Comments
Thank you Mr Vanderzalm for screwwing the province…AGAIN
What a surprise that the Lieberals would cook the books to show a balanced budget just in time for the next election.
How could it be blamed on the HST.. the day it was voted down the Liberals said they will have to pay all the money (bribe) they got from the federal gov yet the HST has been in so long now it has actually made more money than what they lost. Again its our gov lying their butts off and trying to focus the blame anywhere else but where it should be.. On the LIBERALS.
Perhaps the first stage of reverting to the pre-HST ssytem is repaying to Steve the 1.6 billion. Then evetually when we go shopping we will pay the pre-HST taxes like we did before. I doubt that it is going to save me any money. They simply will be separated again. Big deal!
Harper can put the bribe money to *better* use, since they need better roads over there in Aghanistan and less potholes.
Is this before or after the Auditor General’s report?;)
When you cut corporate income taxes from 15% to 10% you should expect a deficit.
Since we are still paying HST, have low income families been getting the promised rebate checks? Or don’t the Liberals care about low income people?
As usual most people miss the point on the HST,. So once again.
If business and corporations stand to save over $1 billion a year in taxes because of the HST, and if the Provincial Government stands to collect an additional $800 Million per year in revenue, then its pretty bloody obvious that someone is paying this money. Its the consumers of course.
It also follows that once the HST is cancelled the Government doesnt get the additional revenue and business and corporations go back to paying the tax under the PST. So of course consumers will save money, because they no longer pay HST on 110 items that they presently pay HST on. This means a savings of approx $1200.00 per year more or less for most familys.
The HST was a thinly disguised tax grab, for the Government and big business, and if it wasnt for Vanderzalm they would have gotten away with it.
Thank you Zalm.
‘What a surprise that the Lieberals would cook the books to show a balanced budget just in time for the next election.’
Are you retarded? The current government made a commitment to balance the budget, and are working to do so, even with the $1.6 B Vanderpenalty associated with reinstating the ridiculous PST / GST system. Programs have been cut, and spending has been cut, in order to meet the fiscally responsible goal of a balanced budget.
If you want a ‘spend wildly beyond your means and expect someone else to pick up the tab’ economy, move to Greece. Or, wait until Mr. Dix and his politburo take the reins in a coup de’ stupidity after the next election.
Either way, you, your children and your children’s children will be paying for your fiscal stupidity while the rest of the enlightened planet gets on with getting ahead.
The present state of affairs in BC and the fact that we are totally screwed up, is a direct result of the the Gordon Campbell, Liberal Government.
Everything they touched has turned brown. They are the most pathetic example of a Government that you could find anywhere in Canada. The sooner they get the boot the better. If we need to suffer for four years under the NDP, so that the smell of the Liberals can be wafted away, so be it.
We should not be rewarding bad behaviour, so we should kick the Liberals as far from Government as we can.
Don’t worry Rocky if you like the HST so much your free to move to Ontario. :-)
You + are = you’re.
It’s the 80 IQ union-supported Johnny Lunchbucket mob that will determine the next government and the rest of us will pay the price.
Just to clarify Palupo – you have now decided $1200 is your HST magic number? Without going back through all the posts over the years I remember you started at about $3000 and when that math didnt work I think you had $2200 for awhile…
Yes thanks Bill for helping to extinquish this HST. Hopefully when Adrian gets to run the show, he increases corporate pig tax to 60 percent. These are the ones who should be paying. NOT poor people. Anyways I am on my way to alberta this weekend for another of my famous shopping sprees. I am buying building materials and other stuff that is HST free there. I plan on spending 7 thousand or so (cash of course) for my purchases. I was last in Grande Prairie 2 months ago and spent about 7500 dollars and payed NO HST. So good bye BC will return next week with my tax free items. Again thank you Bill Vanderzalm.
Not you Rocky, you’ll be in Ontario gleefully paying HST! I suppose you’ll be whining that they don’t have a carbon tax there?
Don’t the voters determine the next government?
Guess our IQs change with the state of public opinion.
Damn you Johnny Lunchbucket!!!!
Comments for this article are closed.