To the Editor,
Re: Status quo is best on HST referendum, Letters, July 9.
Jim Corder speaks about our $1.6 billion transition funds that were provided by us, then given to us and now possibly taken from us yet again. It is still our money, always will be, and matters little which government or political party wants to make hay with it.
The feds could not be negligent in not demanding their bribe back as they have received most of it back in the form of unexpected windfall taxes from the harmonized sales tax.
Re-establishing the provincial sales tax infrastructure would have some costs to it, but it would at least do something that the HST promised but never delivered – creating good paying jobs (with benefits) that would truly stimulate our marketplace driven (not corporate driven) economy. Jobs that the HST fails to produce.
We need only look at Nova Scotia to see how little the long established HST has done for their economy. Has investment capital really gravitated there since the introduction of the HST?
The financial pages are concluding that the HST is best for them. They can’t conclude that it is good for the people of this province. Nowhere in the world has a value-added tax proven to be progressive, or helpful to the citizenry.
Alan MacKinnon
Nanaimo