Editor: I am a second-year student at the University of the Fraser Valley and I have found the debate about the HST extremely confusing. The advertisements presented by the government on TV are vague in their statement that “HST will be cut from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.”
I looked at their website, and found the key information that they kept out of their ads: if the HST is retained by voters, the government will lower the tax from 12 per cent this year to 11 per cent in 2012. It will not reach 10 per cent until 2014.
Having until recently only watched the TV ads, I presumed that if the HST was to continue, the tax would go straight from the current 12 per cent to 10 per cent within this year.
It is my belief that this information was purposely kept from the TV ads so that people like myself would not know the entire arrangement, if they were simply watching the campaigning on TV.
I agree with A. Crawford’s letter (The Times, June 28). The HST does not help families any more than the GST+PST because, as Crawford stated, the GST would not apply to many items those families would buy.
The website provided by the government says the government will be “providing a one time transitional payment to families with children and lower income seniors” as part of their changes to the Harmonized Sales Tax.
This is a blatant bribe that doesn’t recuperate the amount that those families have paid with a 12 per cent HST tax rather than the seven per cent PST under the older system.
I will be voting “yes” in this referendum, as I believe that the HST in not assisting the average British Columbian in saving money.
Caroline Dearden,
Langley
