Premier Christy Clark is weighing her options on HST

tiffiant

Premier Christy Clark is weighing her options on HST
Insists the harmonized sales tax is good for BC
Lyle Fisher May 07, 2011 17:58:06 PM
8 Related Stories

•HST will cost families an extra $350 a year
•First telephone town hall on the HST is tonight in Surrey
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Critics say the provincial government can't ignore the findings of an independent panel report this week on the HST or it will suffer the consequences. For the premier's part, she's still gauging reaction from the public.

The report found the HST will only bring a modest benefit to BC's economy, and will cost each family an extra $350 a year. Premier Christy Clark says she knows the tax needs some tweaking:

"We're getting information from British Columbians about how they would fix it," she explains. "We're going to take that information, put together a package of things that we think will go some way to addressing people's concerns about it, and we'll present that to the public."

"We think the HST is a good tax for British Columbians," she adds. "[Good for] the economy, for creating jobs for families. But we know it's not perfect."

Clark says they're getting plenty of feedback on the HST from their telephone town hall meetings. But she says she wants to get more input from the people.

"The panel report has given us a lot more information about how the HST is going to work, and one of the things that we're doing as a government... is we're listening to British Columbians. [We're] recognizing that there are things people want to fix about the HST."

"If the HST doesn't pass, if the HST fails at referendum, we will accept the verdict of the people," she insists.

Clark says the options include dropping the HST rate by a point or two.