Re: Simple solutions to ease HST pains (Our View, May 13)
The editorial calls going back to the PST and GST a fool’s errand, but let’s put the last 10 years of Liberal government into perspective: how did all that proclaimed financial prosperity happen under the PST? How did that “regressive tax” manage to generate the $1.5 billion surplus that the NDP left the Liberals in 2001?
As Canadians, we are no strangers to tax shifts. We’ve had the GST since 1991 and during that 20-year period there has been ample time to study the economic effects from switching to that tax model, yet no studies have been brought forth. The same goes for any HST reports from other provinces.
Instead, we continue to be pitched theoretical analysis with threats of grave consequences. We don’t even get a chance to vote based on one year worth of actual B.C. financial data from switching to the HST.
Forcing a vote before we have even the faintest clues about the economic impacts from this shift is just one more reason to continue to treat the HST with incredulity and skepticism.
Richard Atwell
Saanich
