Editor:
I have just received the Government’s pamphlet on the harmonized sales tax (HST).
This subtle piece of propaganda ignores the facts pointed out by the Liberal’s own blue ribbon panel.
Reducing the tax to 10 per cent, presumably reduces the benefits in half.
Only 12,000 potential jobs.
The benefits to corporations are also cut in half.
The revenues to government leave a $1.6 million hole in the budget, a permanent structural deficit, which will have to be made up by either more tax and fee increases or cuts in essential services.
This tax remains a fundamental tax shift from corporations to the ordinary working families.
Christy Clark has stated that the 10 per cent level is only temporary and that the Liberal government intends to complete the tax shift sometime in the future.
Going back to the provincial sales tax (PST) /goods and services tax (GST) will be costly, but it makes no sense to enter into a permanent tax increase for a one time payment.
What goes down can also go up, ask Nova Scotian’s who saw their HST rise after the initial drop in the combined PST/HST.
I fail to see how the HST will benefit families.
Peter Nalleweg
Victoria
