As we wait for the vote next year, lets start by recalling the entire party.

I very much doubt people will forget the lies about the HST that have come from the mouths of Hansen and Campbell. Hansen would love us to forget the previous liberal spin on the tax and consider only the tax question come referendum time. A tax shift of 2 billion out of the pockets of Joe citizen and into pockets of industry might just be a hard sell because that is exactly what this tax is. Forget the story of what programs or services will be eliminated. Remember Campbell and Hansen told us the new tax was revenue neutral.
Unless the legislature is reconvened and laws regarding the referendum changed who can believe what comes from Campbell's mouth.
As for the year wait for the referendum this is nothing more than a stalling tactic by Campbell. If he was really intent on being democratic he would hold the referendum this fall or early winter or even better a free vote in the legislature on the HST.
Campbell and his cohorts will spend millions of taxpayer money during the next year promoting the tax. Add to that the 30 million cost for the referendum, the 3/4 of million spent on Hansen's promote the tax pamphlet, now shredded, a lot of coin is going down the drain just to satisfy Hansen's and Campbell's egos.
Remember what these 2 guys told us at election time. 500 million deficit that suddenly became 2.5 billion after the election.
Let's hope Vanderzalm gets a few recall campaigns under way.

Get ready for the government brainwashing program to kick into high gear.
They know we are susceptable to that.
They also know we usually back off in the end.
Which would explain exactly why we are now.

Campbell met with the Bilderberg group and I consider him a traitor. I will never believe anything that this man says. He is handing over our resources to the elitists and setting us up to fall neatly into their agenda. Harper has also met with this group more than once. We are in trouble and no one seems to notice or care. We are letting them win by letting our corrupt governments have free reign without being held accountable. Over 70% of British Columbians are against the pipe line from the oil sands to Kitimat yet it is still moving forward. We NEED to vote on these important issues and not let people like Campbell and his minions have full say. We are in trouble and better wake up soon. End of story!

Do people hate the policy or how it was implemented? i think the hst is better tax policy over all but perhaps they could have taken a percentage point off to compensate the consumer. the abrupt announcement after the election was most upsetting to me.

If we do decide to get rid of the HST, I think we need to consider revamping the PST. The PST is a very poor tax framework.

Why is it that lawyer's fees are subject to PST, but accountant's fees and realtor's fees are not? http://www.businesslawblog.ca/2010/06/about-the-hst-in-b-c-no-tax-increase-on-legal-fees-and-how-the-hst-could-make-your-legal-fees-less-expensive/

Why do we tolerate tax on tax? For example, when a new home is built, the home builder has to pay PST on all the materials, but PST isn't directly charged to the new home purchaser--it's hidden in the price. The GST is then added on top. In effect, you are paying GST on top of the PST. When Vanderzalm was premier, he brought in the property transfer tax and you guessed it, it's tax on tax too--the property transfer tax is applied to the PST, but not the GST/HST. This is only one example of tax, but the situation permeates our entire economy in BC.

The list of exemptions for the PST is huge and the average person has a poor idea of what is exempt and what is not. The PST is an accounting nightmare and even big businesses like Home Depot who have reams of accountants on staff can't keep it sorted out. http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/home+depot+stores+charge+exempt+items/3014910/story.html?id=3014910


The PST encourages businesses to set up in Alberta and employ people in Alberta instead of BC. This also means that the income tax from these jobs and corporations is paid to Alberta and not BC. Personally, I'd like to see more jobs in BC.

I'm having trouble understanding exactly what about the PST that we liked. I can understand that people assumed (and sometimes incorrectly) that they were paying lower taxes with the PST on some items, but wouldn't it be better to lower the HST amount from 12% to 11% or even 10% if that's what we want to do?

I'd much rather have a good tax framework and have a referendum over lowering taxes than simply killing a good framework.

If we do decide to get rid of the HST, I think we need to consider revamping the PST. The PST is a very poor tax framework.

Why is it that lawyer's fees are subject to PST, but accountant's fees and realtor's fees are not? http://www.businesslawblog.ca/2010/06/about-the-hst-in-b-c-no-tax-increase-on-legal-fees-and-how-the-hst-could-make-your-legal-fees-less-expensive/

Why do we tolerate tax on tax? For example, when a new home is built, the home builder has to pay PST on all the materials, but PST isn't directly charged to the new home purchaser--it's hidden in the price. The GST is then added on top. In effect, you are paying GST on top of the PST. When Vanderzalm was premier, he brought in the property transfer tax and you guessed it, it's tax on tax too--the property transfer tax is applied to the PST, but not the GST/HST. This is only one example of tax, but the situation permeates our entire economy in BC.

The list of exemptions for the PST is huge and the average person has a poor idea of what is exempt and what is not. The PST is an accounting nightmare and even big businesses like Home Depot who have reams of accountants on staff can't keep it sorted out. http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/home+depot+stores+charge+exempt+items/3014910/story.html?id=3014910


The PST encourages businesses to set up in Alberta and employ people in Alberta instead of BC. This also means that the income tax from these jobs and corporations is paid to Alberta and not BC. Personally, I'd like to see more jobs in BC.

I'm having trouble understanding exactly what about the PST that we liked. I can understand that people assumed (and sometimes incorrectly) that they were paying lower taxes with the PST on some items, but wouldn't it be better to lower the HST amount from 12% to 11% or even 10% if that's what we want to do?

I'd much rather have a good tax framework and have a referendum over lowering taxes than simply killing a good framework.

The PST might be a poor tax. However the Government of the day kept it in for years. They also said on different occasions over the years that they would not implement the HST in BC. If there are problems with the PST the Government can fix them.

The shift from the PST to the HST has nothing to do with whether it is a good or bad tax model. It has to do with transferring $1.8 Billion of tax dollars from business and corporations to consumers.

Why do people get side tracked on this issue and start talking about the pros and cons of the tax, or what it applies on. It doesnt matter. The bottom line is that once this tax is implemented consumers will pay from $600.00 to $2000.00 more in taxes per year.

This is a tax increase pure and simple, and if they said that they were going to increase your income tax by this amount you would raise hell.

The Government has other ways of saving money and so do business's and corporations. They do not need to do it on the backs of taxpayers. Enough is enough.

Bens outline of what the Government plans to do is probably right, however his prediction of the outcome is wrong.

The anti-HST group have over 700,000 people who have already voted against this tax. They are not about to lay down and die. So you can rest assured that they will vote against it again. A large portion of these people will vote for re-calling MLA's,.and of course they will vote against the Government in the next election.

Re-calls will begin sometime after November 15th this year, and once one or two are successful, then things will start to change again.

This Government has been less than honest with British Columbians, and in fact have been treating us as fools. So I say if you are in fact a fool, continue to support them, if your not, then its time to stand up and be counted, and get rid of these people who see you as nothing more than a teat on a cow, who's only purpose is to be milked on a regular basis.

***Beware of Geeks bearing gifts****

Nothing can change my mind about how I feel about this government or the HST. Pros and cons of the tax that was promised as not going to happen prior to the election, yeah, like I'm going to debate the merits of this pig—not going to happen. We're getting squeezed every day and I've had enough of the arrogance, lies and the preposterous rhetoric coming from Campbell's pie hole. I'm done listening and I am now ready to act.

I agree why get sidetracked? I favor a scorched earth policy when dealing with this government. Get rid of them all and send a message to the next bunch of bandits who think they can pillage this province on the backs of the people who pay for it.

Recall plain and simple.

Hard to figure why any poster would think we liked the PST. Who really likes any taxes?
The HST is all about a tax transfer from corporations to Joe citizen. The citizen pays more and the corporation pays less. Revenue neutral if you believe Hansen and Campbell.
As for business setting up in Alberta because there was a PST tax in BC. Level the playing field, axe the PST in BC.
Don't tell us taking more after tax dollars out of our jeans is good for us. It just won't fly!

A lot of jobs will be moving to Alberta under the HST. Service jobs were exempt from PST because labor 'service' has little room to tax on top of the the taxes already collected for labor including but not limited to income tax, EI taxes, CPP taxes, payroll deductions of all types. Service employment often doesn't have the value gap to absorb the additional revenue tax.

Therefor look to see employers that employ people (which are not input credits) moving their offices to Alberta where the revenue generated by employing people is not flat taxed regardless if a company has earnings or not.

HST is a tax transfer from commodities to the employment of labor. Some will try and sell it as a 'sales' tax and say a few points off the top is all that is needed.

The PST had very good reason why it wasn't collected on the service labor sectors (wait until we are in a recession and find out why ie flat tax on gross revenue implications), because past politicians would rather see people employed and not a burden on the system for the sake of nickle and diming an industry out of economic viability.

Campbell on the other hand, if we are to take his word for it, decided in a few short days that all the past politicians and economists were wrong and giving a tax break to the globalists would be good for GDP. This despite his own internal economists saying any benefits would be at least 5-years out... meaning the labor dislocation will take at least five years to work itself out and the economic drag of that lost productivity of BC employees will outweigh any potential hypothetical benefits.

I predict that Ben is off his rocker on his prediction. I predict that a year out people will be even more angry then they are today as they realize any HST rebates will be pennies compared to the lost value gap they had previously enjoyed... as the cost of this tax ultimately comes out of the price they can charge for the same value they provided before the tax...

Small business is the largest employer in the province, and the vast majority of a small business costs are for the cost of employees... employees are not an input credit they will soon realize.

A year out we will see massive economic damage done by the HST in our competitive position via Alberta, and the BC liberals will be wishing they had had a vote in the legislature a year earlier.

I totally agree with Eagleone and Papalou.

This is nothing more than a tax grab from my pocket, while businesses and corporations get a nice big slice of welfare on my dime.

I will not be holding my breath waiting for any business to lower their prices due to the HST.

Effin liars, every single one of them.