I am deeply concerned about the negative financial impact the proposed 12% HST will have on the typical average BC resident. In particular, I am deeply concerned about how it will affect the lives of the more grassroot people in BC.
Firstly, let me assure you that I am not fundamentally against combining the PST and GST into a single HST. I understand that doing so will vastly simply matters for local businesses when they remit tax dollars to the government. However, given that a large number of daily necessities and basics of living -- most notably food and groceries -- are currently PST-exempt, but will be subjected to the HST when it comes into place, the amount of money an average consumer will spend on the bare necessities of daily living will inevitably increase by at least a whopping 7%. This impact will be felt immediately, and for the poor and less privileged, the financial stress of this additional 7% will be especially painful.
May I ask the Honourable Mr. Campbell, the Honourable Mr. Hansen, and the BC Liberal Party, how do you intend to deal with this negative impact on the poor? And how do you intend to assist them so that they will not be negatively affected by this new policy? If your intent is to simplify matters for businesses and boost their efficiency, why are you adopting a policy that will simultaneously hurt the poor? When somebody steals from the poor and less privileged, can the same person still claim to be "honourable"?!
As I was saying earlier, I am not fundamentally against the HST. I just want to know how Mr. Campbell, Mr. Hansen, and the BC Liberal Party intend to shield the poor and less privileged from the negative impact this proposal brings before pledging my support for the proposal. Perhaps the income tax basic personal amount can be increased by an additional 7%? Or perhaps the provincial government can issue HST rebates to compensate for the exta 7% that every BC resident must pay when HST comes into effect? Best of all, may I suggest that Mr. Campbell, Mr. Hansen, and every Liberal MLA lead by example and automatically subject themselves to a 7% pay cut *AND* donate a further 7% of their MLA salary to charity to help the poor when the HST comes into effect? If such measures can be taken, I will personally do everything in my power to both vote for and influence others to vote for the BC Liberals in the next election. If not, I'm afraid I cannot support a party that goes against my principles, and will do everything I can to persuade others to keep the BC Liberals out of the provincial government.
Write to Gordon Campbell, Colin Hansen, and CC copies of your letters to your MLA and Carole James to complain about sales tax changes. It's the least you can do.
So restaurants, for example, will have to start charging 12 per cent on meals when they currently only charge the GST on the meal and the combined PST and GST on alcohol, Bonney said.
發表於 2009-7-23 12:49
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