To the Editor:
Since your area is unrepresented by a government MLA, one of your readers sent MLA Mungall’s column on HST to me and asked that I tell the other side. The “other side” is as follows.
The government of B.C., of which I am a member, did a lousy job of introducing a new tax policy. No argument from me. We had a positive story to tell about how value-added sales taxes are used around the modern world to strengthen economies and how jobs and investment would be increased with this new consumption tax policy. But we failed miserably to tell our story and, as bad, allowed Mr. Vander Zalm to create a myth about HST that many people are using today to determine their vote.
In deciding how you should vote in the referendum, it makes sense to vote for lower taxes rather than higher taxes. The NDP are asking you to believe you will pay more sales tax with the HST. They are either bad at mathematics or care more about seeing a government policy fail than they care about the real people they claim to represent. Here are the facts.
With a 10 per cent HST, the average family will be $120 a year better off than if we go back to the old PST/GST system. Don’t forget: That two per cent reduction is off every taxable purchase you make in a year. And don’t forget the rebates under HST that don’t exist under the old system.
With a 10 per cent HST, a low-income single mom with two children will receive a $690 annual HST rebate, plus $175 per child in 2012. If we go back to PST/GST, that single mom would receive a maximum of $75.
With a 10 per cent HST, seniors earning less than $40,000 per couple will receive $175 per senior in 2012 plus an annual HST rebate of $230 each. If we go back to PST/GST, seniors get none of that and will pay $120 more annually in sales tax.
Yes, it’s true that the government messed up when introducing this tax, but getting even isn’t the same as getting it right. The petition process worked! The people of B.C. forced the government to change HST and make it better. Government did that. At 10 per cent with the generous rebates, you will pay less sales tax than if you vote “yes” and go back to the old system.
Bill Bennett
Kootenay East MLA