Blah blah blah same lying outfit

yup, this HST will be as affective at improving the economy as the carbon tax was at reducing green house gases. Time to dump these lying idiots.

Nice try Mr.Hansen.
More political spin and very little truth.
I would say the anger over the HST is NOT dissapating,it is actually growing, as people find out more about the things they will now paying tax on.
I also noticed most mainstream media outlets are giving these protests very little press?

The federal Lieberal Party of Toronto leader and loyal opposition guy, the Igmeister actually supports Ontario's venture into implementing that provinces HST. You ninnies in this province who support Iggy should think twice about voting for that party. What a doofus. Just visiting.

According to Hansen

benefits of the HST includes:

1. Studies in Atlantic Canada show that before-tax prices went down, while per capita investment went up over 11 per cent after the HST was introduced.

Where are those studies? I would like to read them because I want to be informed by first hand. Which prices went down; which went up; which stayed the same and by enought to offset the tax.

The per capita investment - what was invested in? machinery bought from Sweden to automate processes which laid people off? I mean there is investment and then there is investment. These responses are far too simplistic. hansen needs to learn how not to talk down to people.
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2. The HST eliminates embedded taxes along the "value chain" and replaces it with a single tax.

Yes. That is obvious. Explain precisely why this is beneficial to the taxpayer. Without that, this statement has no value.
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3. At 12 per cent, B.C. will have the lowest rate of HST in Canada.

So what. We currently have the lowest combined rate of GST + PST. Of course, both Hansen and I have not acknowledged that actually Alberta has the lowest combined rate, so BC is the second lowest, by a considerable margin. BTW, does Alberta have an "embedded" tax? I assume not.
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4. Six of the 10 provinces have, or are moving to, a value-added tax (VAT) -with B.C. as the seventh, that would cover over 90 per cent of Canada's population.

If the game is to follow other provinces, then I think we should get rid of MSP payments as Ontario does and provide free drugs to those over 65 as Ontario does. I am sure the game is really not "let's do what the other provinces are doing". It is just being used for convenience here because it shows us in a better light. I mean, if we were going to do the same as Ontario, we would also be recognizing that the average taxpayer will be paying more and providing rebates more along the line that Ontario is providing.
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to be continued ......

Yes thank you mister minister, as a construction company, we will sink.
Laying off workers, unable to sell a house, adding 15k to our price, yup thats going to stimulate the economy for sure! I will remember this..................

5. Over 130 countries, including 29 of 30 OECD countries, have moved to VATs.

Little bit late on that since most have had it for many decades and they aere considerably higher in most cases. France is cutting back on the restaurant VAT of about 5% because that industry is hurting badly and there are thousands of layoffs. To do that, the government has gotten concessions. In other words, they are smart enough to deal with the industries that will benefit to get them to ensure that prices are actually cut. Hansen is rather naive to think that industry will actually cut prices to the BC consumer without first gettign that committment.
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6. The HST will reduce B.C.'s Marginal Effective Tax Rate by 40 per cent(below ON and AB).

I am sorry, I am not an economist and do not know what guaranteed effect that will have on me as a taxpayer. In other words, I might pay less income tax, but I will pay more consumer tax. So what will the end result be. Where is the scenario for the young, the old, the poor, the middle class, the rich? Why can we not see that on a web site? Does it have anything to do with the fact it might not pain a "positive" picture to sell the idea?
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7. The overall tax burden in B.C. will remain the 2nd lowest in Canada.

Why will it remain the second lowest? I thought this would be positive. I thought this would generate new business and investment. I thought it would generate more income for the government. It obviously won't improve it, otherwise Hansen would have shown by how much we would actually improve rather than staying the same.

"Hey people, we are still in the race and we are still second.". Neat! With all that oil and gas and more to come, I would hope so. BTW, watch out for Newfoundland! And even Saskatchewan.
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8. Business organizations representing more than one million workers in British Columbia have come out in support of the HST.

LOL ... now there is a neat trick ... do these businesses organizations, say 1,000 of those, represent all the workers that they employ? That is kind of presumptive, isn't it.

Why not throw all the government workers in as well since they work for the government that supports this and instigated it.
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9. Low income individuals and families will receive the BC HST credit of $230 per family member. About 1.1 million British Columbians will benefit from the HST credit.

Okay. That is interesting. From here on in? And how much will that help them? will that mean they will not have any effective tax increase? Give me some help here in making this a meaningful statement.
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10. Consumers will not pay the provincial portion of the HST on residentialenergy including oil, electricity, natural gas, and propane used to heat or power homes.

Now this is a very clear statment, finally. One question about that. Is that the same for the other provinces? I assume so.
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11. Consumers will also not pay HST on many essential items such as residential rent and basic groceries.

hmmmm..... here we go again. I can see stupid things coming here unless it simple attaches onto GST rules. Is a broiled chicken basic grocery? How about Papayas? Cinamon buns? Frozen dinners?

I guess rather than building new houses, the idea would be to buy old houses and renovate them.

Will there be HST on the renovated portion, or will it simply be a pre-owned house that is not subject to HST?

This latest Campbell government betrayal is just one more in a long line: the sale of B.C. Rail and the resulting influence-peddling charges by the RCMP, the Recognition Act, the carbon tax, cap and trade, shady lobbyists, the Doug Walls affair, German-built ferries, Olympic
boondoggles, the convention centre, the RAV Line, the carving up of B.C. Hydro, the
destruction of e-mail evidence in the B.C. Rail criminal trial, and now the HST.

So what is the solution?

If you answered “the NDP”, move to the back of the line.

It took the NDP eight days to come out in opposition to the HST. And that’s not because Carole James forgot her cellphone while on vacation. We all know that socialists love new taxes like the HST. And as much as I hate this tax, I would have even paid the extra seven percent to be a front-row fly on the wall during James’s caucus meeting on it: “What a great
idea!” “Think of all the money we could spend!” “Why didn’t we think of that?!” Then Carole chimes in: “But wait, the people hate it.” The room
groans: “Aaaaaawwww.” Carole: “I know!
How about we oppose it, for now?” Wink. Wink.

The HST is proof positive that the B.C. Liberals and the NDP are two sides of the same coin of “big government”. The NDP is big government on behalf of big labour, and the Liberals are big government on behalf of big corporations—and in both cases, you pick up the tab.

We need labour, we need corporations, and we need small businesses and jobs, but we also need a government that acts on behalf of the general interest. A government that knows its proper role is as a referee between competing interests, not an advocate for one over the other.

B.C. Conservatives want to conserve what is best about B.C., but make government smaller. Not so you fall through the cracks, but so you can get ahead and grow and prosper. The B.C. Liberals’ wasteful, profligate, and counterproductive spending and increased tax burden to pay for it all are signs of a failing, dictatorial government that is totally out of control.

It’s time for it to stop. Government is no longer the solution; it has become the problem. The HST is all the evidence we need of that.

Chris Delaney is the deputy leader of the British Columbia Conservative Party.

http://www.conservativesbc.com/downloads/HST_Article-Delaney.pdf

He says claims that seniors will be unfairly burdened by the tax are not true.

CAN YOU SMELL IT ?

It's the smell of someones pants on fire...with a load of crap in them to boot!
This administration is totally out of touch with the realities of the people in this province. The double speak and the spin just get more and more ludicrous. These guys are
shameless.

How is this added tax not going to affect seniors? Don't give me the BS about it creating jobs and will result in big business lowering prices. It's a load of crap. We don't call it the Horse S**t Tax for nothing. Get a life Collin, everyone is not that dumb.

Your nose is getting longer by the day Mr. Hanson. Do you by any chance have an Uncle Japeto?

Only 100 people at the rally? Pathetic!

If it is so good, why wasn't it an election issue?

Of course seniors won't be unfairly burdened by this tax - all consumers will be burdened! If this tax was merely a shifting of the tax collection "burden" to the feds then I would have no problem with it. It's the rhetoric surrounding it that stinks to high heaven! And when there is ample rhetoric, there is a load of crap somewhere under all the perfume of good news delivered by its messenger.

For me,it this is not simply about the tax and the federal money itself.
It is about trust.
Can we trust this government?
Their track record for spin and bullsh**t says no,we can't.
Can we trust the likes of Gordon Campbell and people like Colin Hansen?
No.
We are broke and they need money,lots of money, and they need it fast.
That makes them dangerous.
Would this money be used to cover up just how bad the debt situation actually is for B.C. and how badly our tax dollars have been wasted by this government?
Would it be used to cover up just how much they have blown on the Olympics and how bad the debt will be?
Probably,because lies only beget more lies, to cover up the previous lies!
Once you start lying about an issue,you have to continue to lie.
Against my better judgement,I voted for this goverment, and I am sorry I did that.
For me,this is as much an honesty issue as it is a money issue.
If we assume they are telling us the truth,(which I do not believe they are),what if we are wrong about that?
What comes next?
Are we prepared to take that chance?
There are far too many unanswered questions with this government.
Far too much spin and manipulation and no accountability.
We know they will lie to us, and that is enough to make me assume they are lying again.
Something stinks, and it is a refreshing change to see the people of B.C. pushing back for once.
We need to keep it up or we may very well regret that down the road.

well if the province agrees to the tax ... Lets Vote on it ...instead of cramming down our throats ....

C'mon Gordo Government ...put yer money where yer mouth is ...
you lying sack of crap

I am not for this tax, but the idea of voting on it is ludricrous.

When was the last time we voted on a tax? We vote on a government to govern us. If we don't like it, then we vote them out. That is the way our system works.

Should have voted in a minority. Would be interesting to see how that would have dealt with the finacial situation - more deficit, more coprorate tax, more personal tax, raised the PST, more sin taxes, less services.

Something has to give.

It is not just a matter of voting the question of "are you in favour of the HST - yes or no."

The question also has to ask what is the solution to the problem the HST is supposedly going to address. Otherwise the government will take another path that people will also not in favour of and they will again demand a vote.

Talk about getting the action of government bogged down. Would make the current system look like heaven.

The ralley was poorly done. In the wrong place, at the wrong time, poor signage, not enough advertising: TV etc. They only yapped about the Victoria rally and sort of mentioned that it was taking place in most major centres. I was disappointed.

Supertech complains that the rally was poorly done. Really? And where oh where superliberal would you have done it?

Would you have done it at the court house and disrupt the farmer's market? That was the first suggestion, but neither I or any of the others were to keen on making it harder for those selling.

And, even in front of Bell's office, I was concerned about making it harder for the merchants and customers in the surrounding businesses.

Advertising is nice. But oddly enough, newspapers and audio visual media have this unusual desire to be paid. Unless you have a bag of money to donate, perhaps you would like to tell us where that was coming from?

We did amazingly well with what we had. Had it not been for the generosity of the PG & District Labour Council and the Stand Up for the North Committee, we couldn't have done as much as we did.

And we didn't yap about the Victoria Rally. We did mention it and the other rallies that took place around BC. And without doubt, the Vancouver Rally did upstage ours, but they have a slightly larger population base too.

The supporters we got there and the hundreds of honked horns supporting us make it absolutely clear that the BC Liberals have done what no other political party has done in BC. 85% are absolutely opposed to the HST and the Liberals WILL pay for this at the polls.

And, as leader of BC Refed, we won't allow anything like the HST to stand. Period.

The worst part of this is the Federal Governments role in it. Why do you think the federal government is bribing provinces with 1.6 billion dollars? They obviously have a goal right? Do you know what is going to happen when this HST passes? Our taxes will then be looked after by Revenue Canada! All the money will be sent to Ottawa and then redistributed back to the province. In other words the federal government now has control of BC. In our Canadian Constitution it says that the federal government can not tax the people directly. The province is responsible for that. Anything againts our constitution is against the law as well. We need to wake up people. We need to stand together and take back the power we give to the mere men to represent us. PLEASE WAKE UP!!

When are we going to have a massive rally,perhaps on the front lawn of the legislature?
One that has been widely advertized?
Or will Campbell not allow that?
These smaller rallies are all well and good,but we need to organize a MASSIVE rally that get's some attention!
That will take time and some good organizing, but it would send a message!
I am up for that!

Andy, you do actually have to get permission to rally on the lawn of the legislature.

Farbeit for me to suspect that there may be some blocks thrown up. Never an outright refusal. But impediments anyway.