To the Editor,
Re: HST a draconian tax that must be rejected by province, June 9.
Will those people clamouring to cancel the HST also be the ones shrieking when the government moves to compensate for losing the tax and tries to offset the costs of reversing the whole process?
Returning the $1.6 billion doled out by the federal government to cover costs of implementing the HST will just be a start.
No one likes taxes, but everyone wants the government services they provide.
Personally I’d far rather pay a consumption tax (HST) than have my income tax raised which could well be part of cleaning up the mess to be created if the HST process has to be reversed.
Think what you want about the Gordon Campbell government’s shoddy introduction of the HST, Campbell’s main flaw was poor political policy, but his fiscal policies got the highest rating of all premiers from Fraser Institute economists.
I think that part of the HST problem is too many people looking for the instant gratification that they feel is an entitlement. The economy doesn’t work that way, and I’ll accept the opinion of the economists who say the HST will benefit the province before considering the emotional rhetoric of the anti-HST crowd.
And, if Bill Vander Zalm wants to salvage his tattered legacy, which I suspect may be his motive, let him do it on his own dime, not the backs of B.C. taxpayers.
On the other hand, you don’t salvage anything by setting the province back a few years, but he may not have the economic sense to see that.
Jim Corder
Nanaimo