As we come up to a provincial referendum related to the harmonized sales tax in B.C., I would like to share something I found on a Manitoba website.
My question is, if another province considers the HST too costly for its people, and has other ways of finding tax monies without hardship to itself or business, why must B.C. people be choked by the very definite extra charges of the HST here?
Further, I have not seen any of the Atlantic provinces thriving despite living with the HST for years, nor the people there living better lives because of any HST benefits being returned to them.
That old line about savings being passed on to the consumers has grown more than stale. It is the old chestnut used by governments every time their fingers twiddle in their financial pockets.
It may be that one tax is better for book-keeping than two, but why add HST to items that did not have two taxes before?
It has certainly impacted our family budget in a negative fashion and I have spoken to at least two small businesspeople locally who find it adds costs to themselves.
I think our whole tax system needs a serious overhaul because too many are becoming too poor to pay decent taxes.
No jobs, retiring to poverty — the list of reasons goes on.
This is something to think about as the HST debate wastes more money we can ill afford.
One can find this article at this website: http://news.gov.mb.ca/newsindex.html?item=7326.
J.M. Crawford-Brown
Vernon
