"Campbell’s decision to impose the HST has to rank as one of the stupidest things anyone has done anywhere in North America"

How parochial can one get????!!!

Ontario did it at the same time.

Other provinces did it before.

They just did not have Premiers called Campbell. ...

Peter has gone to the heart of the problem. Our tax system is a patchwork that has lost sight of the goals which rational taxation should pursue.

We need revenue to finance government and that should come from areas that cause the least pain for citizens while not hindering legitimate business.

And, while looking at revenue, we could review what government is doing, what it should do, and how many politicians (and Ministers of such as "Amateur Sport" are necessary to perform government functions efficiently.

Someone please help me out here as I am confused. Now with the fiberals saying dumping the hst will cost us dearly by raising taxes then how come our taxes did not decrease when the hst was forced on us?
How come our budget did not decrease by 5 Billion? Did a whole lot of bureaucrats and tax grabbers get laid off when hst was forced on us.

More holes than a swiss cheese in the Liberal version of why the HST is a good thing for us.
We have an extremely top-heavy government sucking up tax dollars that are supposed to be going to infrastucture and social programs.
Our social programs get smaller and less efficient with less funding,but the size of government gets bigger.
Infrastructure spending is focused on unneeded projects like roofs on stadiums for one, all being built on the lower mainland.
Somewhere around 18 million dollars for the Basi/Virk farce in total.
The list goes on,and still they holler for more.
How many new positions has Campbell created just since the last election
And why?
Why would he waste money bringing John Les back into government, simply to go out and sell us the HST?
There was no one in government already to do the job?
They are all much too busy and run right off their feet??
I think not.
This is a government that operates on bullsh**t and has for a long time.
That bullsh**t is now chsing them down a one way street and they have nowhere left to go.
They will not be telling us where that initial 1.5 billion dollar HST buy-off from the federal government will go,because they don't know.
One thing is for sure...we need to see the books.
There is more behind this than we know.
Show us the numbers.
Let us see just how broke we are.
Why would any government commit political suicide if there wasn't something that they didn't want us to see?
There has never been any accountability for tax dollars spent by this government in the past,and there is even less now.
The is a desperate move by a very desperate government and I want to to know what it is they are trying to bury.

Well Anti I have some news for you.. I recently herd that the lobbists out number our politicians five to one. These are the people that are calling the shots.

Its imbedded at the municipal level and goes right up to Federal government. It starts at a cocktail party that the city manager is throwing and of course the chief of police will be present and he/she will just mention that our headquarters is deploreable and we need a new building. The manager in a drunken state tells the chief we can do that we will juist borrow the money and bang you have a new building for $38 million.

And all those capitalists that are so frigthened of soliaism find themselves making millions from tax dallars. Its good hye free enterprise socialims rules .
Cheers

"Seamutt Now with the fiberals saying dumping the hst will cost us dearly by raising taxes then how come our taxes did not decrease when the hst was forced on us?"

You did get a reduced tax rate. Your personal tax rate in BC went down July 1st when the HST came in.

I agree with one point Peter has made: "and get down to discussing and designing a fair tax system that really works for the province." That's what HST is. A consumption tax. The more you consume the more tax you pay. So if you are poorer spending most of your money on food (exempt) and shelter (exempt) you pay little if any tax. If you are wealthy buy expensive cars and go out to dinner all the time you will pay more tax.

Sounds pretty fair to me.

Start seeing the HST for what it is rather than who and how it was brought in.

It would be nice if people would bother to pay attention - that includes you, Mr Ewart.
The 5 billion dollar shortfall scenario was "IF" the HST was axed and they "DIDNT" reinstate the PST. It was one of many possible scenarios but Im glad all of the HST fear mongerers found one to jump on and parade around without all of the facts AGAIN.

It is about time for Finance Minister Colin Hansen to follow his fearless leader, and fall on his sword.

I used to call them Fiberals... I cannot put into text what I call them anymore.

A lie is a lie is a lie is a lie.

Plausible denial has no honour.

They were afraid to fly a "trial balloon" at election time.

I wish that politicians were made to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; with criminal prosecution for perjury. An election promise is a promise is a trust is a commitment is a contract.

WHERE IS THE RULE OF LAW?!

L1510's. How in the hell can you describe this as a fair tax? Your implication as to what this tax applies on and what people have to pay is absolutely flawed.

I get a little tired of people poo pooing this tax and trying to suggest that it doesnt amount to much.

It has been said hundreds of times by many, many, people including Carol Taylor ex Liberal Finance Minister that this tax is a transfer from business and corporations to consumers of $1.9 Billion dollars. What the hell is so hard to understand about that. Jeeeeeeez.

Here are a few items that you will have to pay the tax on, and unless you plan to stay in the house with the lights out and the curtains closed, you will be playing plenty.

Cable TV,Restaurant Meals, Non-prescription meds, Telephone, Internet, Hockey Tickets, Hair cuts, Admission fees, Membership fees, Movies, theatre, Bus fares, Magazines/Newspapers, Taxi fares, Airline tickets, Golf fees, Skiing,Spa Services, Massage therapy, Resort packages, Parking,Coffee shops, Fast food-Beverages, Dry Cleaning, Vitamins, Dietary supplements, School supplies, Photography, Home maintenance, Health equipment,Consulting services, Storage lockers, Moorage, Campgrounds, RVparks, Animal feed, Fishing Charters, Naturopathy,Reflexology, Veterinarian,Physiotherapy,Musems, Painting, Real estate fees, Bicycles, Accounting, Architects, Concert tickets, Funeral services, Chinese medicine, Marketing services, Safety equipment, Helmets, Life Jackets, First aid kits, Smoke detectors, Fire extinguishers, Energy equipment, Insulation,SolarPower, Attractions/Events.

This is a fairly good list as to what is now subject to the HST that was not subject to the PST.

So in view of the above, anyone who wants to wander around telling you that there is nothing wrong with this tax, should do a little research.

The tax was designed to offset the lost revenue that used to be collected by the PST from business and corporations. Thats why they put it in.

Question? If you are poorer, how are you going to avoid paying the tax on many of the items listed above.Anwer. You are not.

Jeeeeeeeez.

L1510s:-"That's what HST is. A consumption tax. The more you consume the more tax you pay. So if you are poorer spending most of your money on food (exempt) and shelter (exempt) you pay little if any tax. If you are wealthy buy expensive cars and go out to dinner all the time you will pay more tax."
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Obviously you don't realise that the "propensity to consume" DECREASES amongst the wealthy. Once they've spent on the things they want, it's generally a long time before they have to, or want to, spend on those things again.

Just because Jimmy Pattison is one of BC's most wealthy citizens doesn't mean that Jimmy's ongoing personal consumption is a whole lot more than those a lot less wealthy.

Once you've bought the nice digs with a view, the fancy yacht, the private jet, John Lennon's old Rolls with the psychodelic paint-job, Frank Sinatra's former Hollywood mansion, and one disgraced former BC Premier, do you carry on with an unabashed orgy of HST taxable conspicuous consumption? Not likely.

But lets look at this a little further, since what you're saying is now appearing in newspapers and forums like this all over the Province, all of a sudden, and all from different people, of course, ~ which we KNOW is purely 'co-incidental', but interesting as to its timing, nevertheless.

One version I read this morning in a newspaper far removed from Prince George explained that Income Taxes were a definite dis-incentive to people "working harder", since the more they worked ~ the more they PRODUCED, we might say ~ the greater the amount of tax that was removed from them.

Whereas having a Consumption Tax, like the HST, was not only removing this detriment to further productivity, but actually penalised those who CONSUMED most, and would cause them to mend their ways by reducing their spending.

Now I don't know about you, but to me, something just doesn't seem right here. We're going to encourage people to work harder and PRODUCE "more", but at the same time we're trying to force them to CONSUME "less"? Just what, exactly is the point of "production", of anything, if it's not "consumption"?

Interceptor, the way the story broke that there would be a $ 5 billion "hole" to fill with increases to other taxes if the HST was rescinded played down that this was only if the PST was NOT re-instated. This is simply another example of fear-mongering alright, only it ISN'T coming from the anti-HST side.