To the Editor,
Re: B.C. voters reject HST, Aug. 27.
Those anti-HST folks sure let the Liberals know how they feel about disingenuous tax introduction and it’s only going to cost B.C. taxpayers a few billion dollars. Sure hard to find better bargains than that.
It’s really too bad, though, that the anti group doesn’t foot the bill for regressing to the old system.
And so what if corporations start shifting their operations to more friendly tax areas. People laid off as a result can either work in the new GST/PST collection bureaucracies, or perhaps help out in businesses that will have to turn their operating systems backward.
It has been reported that the federal NDP’s Libby Davis has “demanded” that B.C. be allowed to keep the $1.6 billion in HST transition funds from Ottawa, which must be a joke. Although, she may believe that dishonesty between Ottawa and the provinces is OK as long as it results in NDP votes.
With public policy having been on hold while this fiasco has played out, the next phase, or government ‘plan B’, should be interesting.
Piling the costs of retrogression on to B.C.’s current deficit/debt will obviously create a requirement for more revenue, either in the form of taxes or major cutting on government programs, which should also have the anti-HST mob screeching.
Meanwhile, wily Willy Vander Zalm claims that he’s saving B.C. consumers $2 billion, which must be another joke. But, perhaps he just forgot that consumers also pay the taxes that will be needed to recover from his fiscal follies.
Jim Corder
Nanaimo