Those who are weighing in to the HST/PST/GST issue will have to make their decision soon.
Your paper printed an article by Stockwell Day. It was interesting but he left many questions unanswered.
In addition, some of the benefits that Mr. Day brought up seem rather fleeting and perhaps not significant in the long term.
Will savings of $120 per year for a family lift that family out of poverty? Not likely.
What about extra costs to B.C. residents? Take two examples in which we are personally involved. Both my husband and myself provide a service to the community. Prior to the introduction of HST we were required to charge only GST on this service. Even the new rate of HST that will be introduced is higher than GST alone. Now there is double the tax cost to the individuals and companies that receive these services.
Mr. Day failed to mention how those 24,400 (perhaps he should have said 24,414 jobs) would be created. Should we simply take his word for it?
In his letter he has used some terms that seem designed to tug at the heartstrings of the public, referring to children, seniors, lower-income families and creation of jobs. His lack of information of how these would benefit, other than a cheque here and there, left me unconvinced.
I wonder if there are other skeptics out there who read his article. He’ll have to provide more solid reasoning before I believe that we’ll be taking a “giant step backward” by saying no to HST.
Marilyn Ibsen
