Talking Taxes, HST Campaign Announced

Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:11 PM

Victoria, B.C.- The Provincial Government has announced a public engagement process to consider options to improve the Harmonized Sales Tax.

The "Talking Taxes" public engagement provides a timely and important opportunity for government to listen to the public and help determine what improvements may be made to the HST.

Talking Taxes events will begin next week and will include:
* Provincewide tele-town halls conducted by region
* Stakeholder meetings with a wide variety of groups with interest in the HST
* Website information and suggestions for improvement

Specific dates and further details on the Talking Taxes events will be made public next week.

The Province has also announced it will provide $1.7 million in funding to ensure that well-informed public engagement on the Harmonized Sales Tax occurs across the province in advance of the referendum.
Under the plan government will:
* Provide a total of $500,000 for the "yes" and "no" sides, subject to conditions on the appropriate use of public funding and accountability for spending.
* Create a Public Dialogues Fund of $500,000 to be independently managed by the province's public universities, colleges and institutes to hold informative public dialogues in advance of the referendum.
* Produce and send a comprehensive voter's guide to every home in British Columbia with information on the referendum including statements provided directly by the main "yes" and "no" groups, a summary of the independent panel report on the HST, and other information to help inform voters about the referendum ballot. The cost of this guide is approximately $700,000.

In order to ensure a fair process for allocating public funding and mediate any disputes over the format and locations for the public dialogues, the Honourable Stephen Owen, QC, PC has been appointed as an independent funding decision-maker. Owen, a former B.C. Ombudsman, is
acting in a personal capacity utilizing his extensive background in public engagement and mediation. He will make public funding allocation decisions for both sides as well as finalizing an appropriate format and locations for the public dialogues.

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Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:11 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Palopu on April 14 2011 12:30 PM

Get ready for a huge onslought of propaganda telling you how great this tax is, how great it is for the Government and the Province, and how we should all jump on board and support it.

They will avoid as much as possible talking about how great it is for big business and corporations.

They will not talk about this tax increase in conjunction with all the other increases we are facing such as Hydro, Gasoline, Municipal Taxes, Transit Taxes, Ferry Taxes, Airport Taxes, Water, Sewage, Garbage, and Road taxes, or the increase in the cost of food and consumer items.

They will not give you any examples of where prices were reduced because of this tax, or where jobs were created.

In other words all we will get is more BS. Dont be sidetracked. There is only one issue here. That is to get rid of the HST and revert to the tax system in place in July 2010. That was what 750,000 people signed the petition for and that is the issue..

In simplistic terms we DO NOT need anymore tax increases in BC. What we need is Government fiscal responsibility. They will not get out of the trough on their own, so it is up to the people of BC to pull them out.

We need to stop raising taxes NOW.

Now is the time to stop these people. You may never get another chance, so dont screw this one up.

Vote to kill the tax.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on April 14 2011 7:24 PM

Amen to that Palopu!

Posted by: gamblor on April 14 2011 7:39 PM

When HST gets scrapped, the province will have very little wiggle room to retaliate with more taxes since savvy consumers and suppliers can resume undercutting heavily overtaxed BC goods with imported cheap goods without getting gouged by the HST.

Posted by: Resident on April 15 2011 8:28 AM

I wonder if the Lieberals will bring Campbell out of retirement to travel the province and tell people how great the tax is for them. Having Falcon or Hanson promoting the tax is just like having the man himself.
It should be an interesting spin telling consumers how they should be happy when the gov't takes an extra 2 billion a year out of their pockets so businesses can have lower taxes.
Now the gov't changes the rules in mid-stream and is going to pour money out the window trying to convince people who now have less disposable income this is good for them.
The Liberals may have a new person at the helm but the same old gang is in charge. Christy Clarks families first policy is certainly in place. Families first to pay more taxes, families first to have less disposable income, families first for hydro increases, ferry increases, carbon tax increase.