Introduction to the Citizen Initiative Petition to repeal the HST
Feb 11, 2010 Details
What is the HST?
The HST is a new federal sales tax created by merging the GST with the PST, to be collected by the federal government and shared with BC.
Why is the HST bad for BC?
•It will add 7% more to the cost of many goods and services that were previously exempt under the PST.
•It will transfer the entire sales tax burden from businesses to consumers.
•It will cost the average household in BC an extra $2,100 per year.
•The HST removes BC’s exclusive Constitutional right to set and collect provincial sales tax in BC.
•The BC Liberals’ promised NOT to implement the HST in the last election.
•BC’s economy is struggling, and an extra tax will hurt citizens and economic recovery.
How can we stop the HST?
•BC is unique in Canada to have a Citizen’s Initiative law that provides for a legally binding petition to be conducted.
Fight HST has been approved by Elections BC to conduct a Citizen’s Initiative petition to repeal the HST.
•The Citizen’s Initiative petition requires the signatures of 10% of registered voters in every one of BC’s 85 Electoral Districts to be successful.
•If the Initiative petition is successful, the BC Government must submit a draft Bill to the Legislature for a vote, or conduct a province wide referendum (Initiative Vote) on the question.
What is the petition called?
The Fight HST Citizen Initiative is titled:
An initiative to end the harmonized sales tax (HST)
What does the petition mean? Read the rest of this entry »
Fight HST Citizens Initiative to repeal the HST – Message from Bill Vander Zalm
Feb 8, 2010 Letters
Dear Fight HST Supporter,
It’s been quite a week! A lot of positive press coverage around the province for our Citizens Initiative to repeal the HST. Just as exciting is we have received another 250 volunteer registrations since Thursday for canvassers! This is all good news, and it shows that British Columbians have not accepted the HST and are realizing there is a way to stop it.
But Friday on the Bill Good Show, Vaughn Palmer, Keith Baldry and Bill were trying to convince British Columbians that we don’t have a chance. They were trying to say we are wasting our time and that we’ll never succeed. They even seemed to enjoy taking personal shots at me for some reason, though they all claim they don’t agree with the HST. Makes you wonder sometimes if they are trying to have their cake and eat it too!
To win – we all need to do two things:
Tags: british columbians, canvasser, canvassers, citizens, conviction, expressing opinions, family friends, initiative petition, letters to the editor, Liberals, momentum, naysayers, negativity, neighbours, personal note, personal shots, registrations, signatures, volunteer, wasting our time
Common Ground Magazine Cover
Feb 6, 2010 Guest Posts
As we get closer to our 3 month long Signature Collection Campaign, I thought I would share this Great magazine cover by Common Ground Magazine (with permission of course). I love the caption: OVERTAXAR from the director of “TITANIC DEBT”
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Tags: bc liberals, collection campaign, common ground magazine, Fight HST, FightHST, gordon campbell, HeiST, Liberals, overtaxar, signature collection, titanic debt
PRESS RELEASE: BC CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE APPLICATION BY FORMER PREMIER BILL VANDER ZALM TO KILL THE HST APPROVED BY ELECTIONS BC FOR APRIL
Feb 5, 2010 Press Release
PRESS RELEASE: BC CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE APPLICATION BY FORMER PREMIER BILL VANDER ZALM
TO KILL THE HST APPROVED BY ELECTIONS BC FOR APRIL
Vancouver, BC – A British Columbia Initiative petition to kill the proposed 12% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on virtually all goods and services in BC, has been approved by Elections BC, former Premier, Fight HST leader and petition applicant Bill Vander Zalm announced Thursday.
Fight HST, the group started by Vander Zalm, said the Elections BC approved Citizens’ Initiative can begin signature collection on April 6, 2010.
If implemented on July 1, 2010, the HST announced last year by Premier Gordon Campbell would add an additional 7% tax on everything from restaurant meals, haircuts, bicycles, and gym memberships to golf fees, airline tickets, funeral services, new homes over $525,000 to professional fees like accounting and much more.
Vander Zalm is currently travelling on business in California but issued a statement:
“The citizen’s Initiative petition is our first move and it is the people’s opportunity to tell the governments that we are still a democracy and not totally an elected dictatorship,” Vander Zalm said. “The Initiative is also the people’s opportunity to kill the HST.”
Fight HST spokesman Bill Tieleman said that: “The citizens’ Initiative petition is a legally-binding petition, which if successful will require the government to either conduct a province-wide referendum on the HST or to present an Act to repeal the HST in the legislature.”
Tieleman explained that the Fight HST group must collect the signatures of 10% of registered voters in all 85 BC electoral districts in 90 days to be successful.
“We will have to collect all those signatures between April 6 and July 5. We have over 1,500 volunteers from across the province who have already agreed to canvass for signatures, and we expect that number to increase dramatically as we approach the start date and people see that the HST can indeed be stopped,” he said.
Chris Delaney, Lead Organizer for Fight HST, said that the proposed legislation for the citizens’ Initiative would nullify the HST agreement between the federal government and the province, thereby extinguishing the HST in BC.
“We would return to the Provincial Sales Tax as it was applied before the surprise HST announcement,” said Delaney. “Our legislation would be effective retroactively from June 30, 2010, the day before the proposed implementation of the HST. This means the government will have to refund all extra HST revenues they collect over and above what they would have received under the PST, to British Columbia taxpayers. It’s their money after all,” said Delaney.
Delaney said Fight HST is calling on Premier Campbell to tell British Columbians whether he will abide by the voters wishes and repeal the HST if the petition is successful.
“British Columbians deserve to know if their Premier, the same man who has repeatedly expressed support for grass roots democracy and effective Citizen Initiative legislation, will abide by it when it is applied to his government.”
Tags: airline tickets, bicycles, bill vander zalm, British Columbia, dictatorship, electoral districts, first move, funeral services, golf fees, gym memberships, haircuts, harmonized sales, HST, initiative petition, premier gordon campbell, professional fees, registered voters, restaurant meals, signature collection, vancouver bc
