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REMEMBER THE GST? Fool us once, shame on you . . . fool us twice, SHAME ON BC!
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Campbell’s #HST Illusion by: David D. Schreck

On July 1, 2009, France reduced its value added tax (VAT – the equivalent of our GST or HST) on restaurant meals from 18.5% to 5.5%. They did that because they accepted the evidence that the tax on restaurant meals kills jobs; they expect 40,000 jobs to be created as a result of cutting the tax. Why does Premier Campbell think that economics works differently in British Columbia? If you can answer that question you might also know why he would say one thing before an election and do the opposite after the election.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen was almost laughed out of the room when he told reporters that money from the HST would be earmarked for health care. On March 6th, Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer wrote: “By the end of this week, even Hansen was admitting that the move to link the HST to health care was mainly an exercise in public relations.”

Not to be deterred by its failed public relations exercise, today the Campbell government released a propaganda sheet that it tried to spin as an economic study. The 13 page paper by Jack Mintz of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy claims that over ten years the HST “is expected to increase the province’s capital stock by more than $14.4 billion and add 141,000 new jobs.” The words “is expected to” are significant because Mintz’s claims are nothing but wishful thinking, not backed up by any testable hypotheses – no model, no estimation techniques, no standard errors of the estimates.

Mintz argued that: “When maximizing the value of their shareholders’ equity, businesses will invest in capital until the marginal return on it is equal to its cost.” As the recent financial mess around the world demonstrated, it is arguable whether large corporations maximize shareholders’ equity, but that is not the biggest hole in the Mintz paper. He maintained that by lowering the marginal effective tax rate (METR) on capital, more projects will be attractive for business investments. Despite a few footnotes about assumed capital-labour substitution and the risk of changing federal policy, there is nothing in his paper that spells out how he arrived at estimates of precisely $14.4 billion in investment over 10 years and 141,000 new jobs.

Mintz failed to put his unsubstantiated estimates in the context of BC’s traditional investment and job growth so readers could tell whether his numbers are significant and thereby judge whether they justify shifting $2 billion a year from businesses to consumers. Note that in the absence of inflation that would be a shift of $20 billion over 10 years to justify investment of $14.4 billion; if Mintz is right, consumers could do the investment themselves and be almost $6 billion ahead. Back to the context for comparison: at 2% annual employment growth, BC will add over 390,000 in the next ten years. Mintz is claiming that the HST will boost that by 36%. That strains credibility when we know that jobs will be lost in the hospitality sector because of the tax. As for investment, over the 10 year period ending in 2008, businesses invested $97 billion in machinery and equipment in BC and $82 billion in non-residential structures, so Mintz is claiming that if the next 10 years are the same, business investment would increase by 8%. For those who are here 10 years from now, it might be challenging to separate the effect of lowering the METR from the effects of changing interest rates and commodity prices.

Before committing to the HST, BC had the opportunity to study the consequences of eliminating the provincial sales tax on production machinery and equipment. Instead of commissioning Mintz to produce his paper, the Campbell government might have attempted to analyze its own tax experiment. The Campbell government eliminated the PST on “production machinery and equipment” in 2001. I submitted a freedom of information request asking how much tax revenue was foregone for each year since that exemption and for any documents that discuss estimates of changes in investment as a result of the exemption. On October 30, 2009 I received an answer saying: “Pleased be advised that the Ministry has no records responsive to your request. Budget 2001 estimated the cost of the exemption when first introduced but the cost has not been estimated since because it is not part of the Tax Expenditure Survey.” Before embarking on one of the largest tax shifts in BC history, one might think that the government would have analyzed whether its initial experiment in stimulating investment worked or not, instead they hired Mintz to write a propaganda sheet.

It is probably true that lower taxes on investment means more investment, just as it is true that higher prices on restaurant meals means fewer meals. The trick is in determining how much. There appears to be good evidence that restaurant meals purchased decline by 1% for every 1% increase in price. There appears to be little or no evidence on how business investment responds to changes in taxation, but most economists would acknowledge that interest rates and commodity prices are likely to be far more important than marginal tax changes.

There doesn’t appear to be any provincial public opinion polling in the works that will allow us to measure whether the Liberals enjoyed a post-Olympic bounce or whether the public is buying their political spins. It may be the fall before the spin is tested, after folks see what the HST does to the price of lunch and a cup of coffee.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen insists that it’s not about misleading the public

Adam Stirling Comment – CFAX 1070 Radio Victoria, Mar 3, 2010

I respectfully disagree…

Minister Hansen announced a new government bid yesterday to try to link the wildly unpopular HST to BC’s health care system

Minister Hansen pledged that every dollar raised from the harmonized sales tax will go towards BC’s cash strapped health care system.

What the minister is reluctant to admit is that every penny that goes into health care from the HST will just be clawed back from some other revenue source. To be clear it will make absolutely no difference. For example if an extra million dollars goes into BC’s health budget by way of the HST, that million will be clawed back from other sources of revenue, such as income tax.

It’s easy to see why the government is doing this however: they are scared. They are scared that the 85 percent of British Columbians that polls tell us are against the tax will rise up and defeat it in the upcoming counter petition and possible referendum.

I asked Minister Hansen on my show yesterday if his government has contingency plans in place should this petition actually succeed and force a referendum which nullifies the HST.

Read the rest of this entry »

Common Ground Magazine Cover

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”

Great Magazine Cover

HST INPUT TAX CREDIT SUSPENSIONS likely for small business

The BC Liberal government has made a big deal about how this HST is going to be good for business and how BC businesses will be able to recover “INPUT TAX CREDITS” paid out on a number of different items.

What Minister Colin Hansen and Premier Gordon Campbell did not tell you was that if Hansen figures things are sticky enough, he can suspend part or ALL of those “INPUT TAX CREDITS”. And not just for a short time either. 5 YEARS of full suspension, plus 3 years more to phase them back in.

Wait just a minute guys? What the heck did you need that for? If Hansen was not contemplating using this provision, why is it there?

It is very clear that the Liberals know full well what is coming after the 2010 OWE-lympics are done. And they have decided that your slurpee is too much of a luxury for them to miss the tax on.

Every small BC business is going to take a beating on the HST. Either directly, or indirectly because even if you can believe that insane $1.9 BILLION projection of increased tax burden on BC consumers, that works out to some $460 increased tax by every man, woman and child in BC. And those numbers are the ones offered up by the same fiscal sharpies that ran the last election of an approximate $460 million deficit projection only to have it revealed later it was in the multiple BILLIONS!!

No small business can be expected to see $2500 per family removed in terms of buying power. Because while families will be paying more for goods because of this HST, incomes are NOT going up to keep pace. So small BC businesses are in grave danger of being wiped out over this.

Mike Summers
Northern organizer, Fight HST

HST – Son of GST by:Peter Ewart

Like one of those B movie sequels, such as the Bride of Dracula or Son of Frankenstein, the infamous Goods & Services Tax (GST) – first introduced in 1991 by the Brian Mulroney government – keeps rearing its ugly head.

Its most recent reincarnation is the BC government’s Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) which is proposed to be introduced in the province in 2010. How are the two taxes related? Well, both are called “value-added” taxes (a euphemism if there ever was one).

But, historically speaking, much more connects these taxes than that. Indeed, when the GST was imposed in 1991, the Mulroney government also had the intention that the provincial sales taxes would be combined or “harmonized” with the GST. At least that was the idea. Thus, the first part of the GST “plan” was to impose the tax federally. The second part was to install it provincially with an HST. Thus the HST is actually the “son” of the GST.

What happened? If there ever was a cautionary tale for politicians, the GST is it. The Brian Mulroney government, puffed up with arrogance, declared that the GST would be imposed on Canada come hell or high water. Yes, it was imposed. But there was a cost. Two MPs in Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government quit, while many members of the Party resigned. One of the biggest beneficiaries was the rising Reform Party, which was strongly opposed to the GST.

A great controversy shook the country and many people were outraged with the high-handed behaviour of the government. In the 1994 election, the Progressive Conservative government was slaughtered, going from a majority of seats in Parliament to a miserable two seats, one of the biggest electoral defeats in Canadian history.

A large part of this catastrophic defeat was voter opposition to the GST. And it is not hard to see why. Each time, a voter would pay for a good or service, he or she would be reminded of the Mulroney government’s role in imposing this tax. It was as if Brian Mulroney’s smiling face was stamped on every bill or receipt.

At that time, seeing the widespread opposition to the GST, the provincial governments backed off from bringing in a “Harmonized Sales Tax,” perhaps thinking they would do so after a few years, once the controversy had died down.

Since then, provincial governments in Quebec and the Maritime provinces have brought in their versions of the HST. But Western Canada and Ontario have continued to shy away. Until now.

Both British Columbia and Ontario have announced that they will be bringing in the HST next year. The most highhanded in this regard has been the BC government. During the provincial election in May, it denied that it was even considering adoption of the HST, only to turn around two months later and announce that the HST was on the agenda.

Some people argue that all of this will be forgotten in four years and that it will have little effect on the next election. I am not so sure.

For one thing, by bringing in this highly unpopular tax, Premier Campbell is fracturing the “grand coalition” that is necessary to ensure a Liberal victory in the next provincial election. Indeed, it was the opposition of the provincial Reform Party and other political forces that cost Campbell the provincial election in 1996.

For another thing, the next provincial election is scheduled for 2013. In the years leading up to it, people will be forking out extra money for the HST on home renovations, real estate fees, haircuts, and a blizzard of other goods and services.

Indeed, on election day itself, some voters may drop by a restaurant for a coffee and doughnut before casting their ballot. When they are at the counter reaching in their pocket for coins to pay the extra 7% for the HST, guess whose mug shot will be stamped on the bill?

Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca

“Article is from Opinion250 at www.opinion250.com

ABOUT

    Bill Vanderzalm and the FightHST Team are not associated with any other website. We are not selling window decals online and we will NOT be looking for window decals when we collect signatures. We ARE NOT collecting signatures on any online petition. If you signed a petition online, your signature will not be valid and your opinion will be ignored by our Government.

    There is only one valid, legal, authorized petition, If you want to be heard by your Government, you will need to sign "an Initiative to End the Harmonized Sales Tax" petition when we knock on your door and produce our "Elections BC ID Badge" in the 90 days starting APRIL 6th 2010.


    Bill Vander Zalm

    Former Premier Bill Vander Zalm
    We can't let this happen. Join me in saying no to the HST

    TOGETHER WE CAN SAVE BC.
    BILL VANDER ZALM Has often been called the "Gardener Politician." A family man with his wife Lillian of 53 years, 4 children, all married and in the nursery garden center business operating Art Knapp Plantland Stores, and 9 wonderful grandchildren.

    Bill Vander Zalm started the Art Knapp stores in 1953 after running a wholesale bulb and plant business for several years since age 18 when his father had suffered a heart attack.

    Bill Vander Zalm entered politics, as a Surrey Councilor in 1965 and in 1969 became the youngest Mayor in Canadas history of the largest Municipality in the British Commonwealth.

    In 1975 he entered Provincial politics and became Minister of Human Resources. After eliminating the debt and re-directing that ministry, he became the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Transit and brought to our Province the rapid transit Skytrain system.

    In 1981, the Government was forced to introduce a program of restraint and Mr. Vander Zalm was given the most difficult portfolio of Education and effectively brought spending in line with available revenues.

    In 1983 Mr. Vander Zalm took a sabbatical from politics when he and Lillian started the Fantasy Garden World, a combination "show Garden", "Children's Play Park" and "Biblical Garden" complete with catering facilities for weddings and other functions.

    In 1986 Bill Vander Zalm was chosen the leader of Social Credit, became Premier on July 31st. and was confirmed with a majority government in a general election during October of that year.

    There was considerable progress during the years of 1986 - 1991 and the Province went from successive deficits to successive balanced budgets, all income tax surcharges were removed and the sales tax was reduced. But most remarkably, his Government was the first in the history of the Province to actually reduce the Provincial debt, and the British Columbia economy was rated #1 in North America.

    In late 1990, after suffering from a number of internal political maneuverings and with great and well organized fanfare, was falsely charged with Conflict of Interest and Breach of Trust for participating with Lillian in the sale of the Fantasy Gardens. He resigned, but was later acquitted of all charges in the BC Supreme Court and found not guilty.

    Bill still keeps very busy doing auctions at numerous charity fund-raisers. He is also involved in numerous challenging business enterprises, but after Lillian and family, his big love is tending to his big crop of fragrant Lilac bushes.

MP

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FEDERAL MP EMAIL ADDRESS LIST
AbbotsfordFast, Ed (Mr.)
BC Southern InteriorAtamanenko, Alex (Mr.)
Burnaby - DouglasSiksay, Bill (Mr.)
Burnaby - New WestminsterJulian, Peter (Mr.)
Cariboo - Prince GeorgeHarris, Richard M. (Mr.)
Chilliwack - Fraser CanyonStrahl, Chuck (Hon.)
Delta - Richmond EastCummins, John (Mr.)
Esquimalt - Juan de FucaMartin, Keith (Hon.)
Fleetwood - Port KellsGrewal, Nina (Mrs.)
Kamloops - Thompson - CaribooMcLeod, Cathy (Mrs.)
Kelowna - Lake CountryCannan, Ron (Mr.)
Kootenay - ColumbiaAbbott, Jim (Hon.)
LangleyWarawa, Mark (Mr.)
Nanaimo - AlberniLunney, James (Mr.)
Nanaimo - CowichanCrowder, Jean (Ms.)
Newton - North DeltaDhaliwal, Sukh (Mr.)
North VancouverSaxton, Andrew (Mr.)
Okanagan - CoquihallaDay, Stockwell (Hon.)
Okanagan - ShuswapMayes, Colin (Mr.)
Pitt Meadows - Maple Ridge - MissionKamp, Randy (Mr.)
Port Moody - Westwood - Port CoquitlamMoore, James (Hon.)
Prince George - Peace RiverHill, Jay (Hon.)
RichmondWong, Alice (Mrs.)
Saanich - Gulf IslandsLunn, Gary (Hon.)
Skeena - Bulkley ValleyCullen, Nathan (Mr.)
South Surrey - White Rock - CloverdaleHiebert, Russ (Mr.)
Surrey NorthCadman, Dona (Ms.)
Vancouver CentreFry, Hedy (Hon.)
Vancouver EastDavies, Libby (Ms.)
Vancouver Island NorthDuncan, John (Mr.)
Vancouver KingswayDavies, Don (Mr.)
Vancouver QuadraMurray, Joyce (Ms.)
Vancouver SouthDosanjh, Ujjal (Hon.)
VictoriaSavoie, Denise (Ms.)
West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky CountryWeston, John (Mr.)

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PROVINCIAL MLA EMAIL ADDRESS LIST
Abbotsford South John van Dongen
Abbotsford West Mike De Jong
Abbotsford-Mission Randy Hawes
Alberni-Pacific Rim Scott Fraser
Boundary-Similkameen John Slater
Burnaby North Richard Lee
Burnaby-Deer Lake Kathy Corrigan
Burnaby-Edmonds Raj Chouhan
Burnaby-Lougheed Harry Bloy
Cariboo North Bob Simpson
Cariboo-Chilcotin Donna Barnett
Chilliwack John Les
Chilliwack-Hope Barry Penner
Columbia River-Revelstoke Norm MacDonald
Comox Valley Don McRae
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain Douglas Horne
Coquitlam-Maillardville Diane Thorne
Cowichan Valley Bill Routley
Delta North Guy Gentner
Delta South Vicki Huntington
Esquimalt-Royal Roads Maurine Karagianis
Fort Langley-Aldergrove Rich Coleman
Fraser-Nicola Harry Lali
Juan de Fuca John Horgan
Kamloops-North Thompson Terry Lake
Kamloops-South Thompson Kevin Kreuger
Kelowna-Lake Country Norm Letnick
Kelowna-Mission Steve Thomson
Kootenay EastBill Bennett
Kootenay West Katrine Conroy
Langley Mary Polak
Maple Ridge-Mission Marc Dalton
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Michael Sather
Nanaimo Leonard Krog
Nanaimo-North Cowichan Doug Routley
Nechako Lakes John Rustad
Nelson-Creston Michelle Mungall
New Westminster Dawn Black
North Coast Gary Coons
North Island Claire Trevena
North Vancouver-Lonsdale Naomi Yamamoto
North Vancouver-Seymour Jane Ann Thornwaite
Oak Bay-Gordon Head Ida Chong
Parksville-Qualicum Ron Cantelon
Peace River North Pat Pimm
Peace River South Blair Lekstrom
Penticton Bill Barisoff
Port Coquitlam Mike Farnworth
Port Moody-Coquitlam Ian Black
Powell River-Sunshine Coast Nicholas Simons
Prince George-Mackenzie Pat Bell
Prince George-Valemount Shirley Bond
Richmond Centre Rob Howard
Richmond East Linda Reid
Richmond-Steveston John Yap
Saanich North and the Islands Murray Coell
Saanich South Lana Popham
Shuswap George Abbott
Skeena Robin Austin
Stikine Doug Donaldson
Surrey-Cloverdale Kevin Falcon
Surrey-FleetwoodJagrup Brar
Surrey-Green Timbers Sue Hammell
Surrey-Newton Harry Bains
Surrey-Panorama Stephanie Cadieux
Surrey-Tynehead Dave Hayer
Surrey-WhalleyBruce Ralston
Surrey-White Rock Gordon Hogg
Vancouver-Fairview Margaret MacDiarmid
Vancouver-False Creek Mary McNeil
Vancouver-Fraserview Kash Heed
Vancouver-Hastings Shane Simpson
Vancouver-Kensington Mabel Elmore
Vancouver-Kingsway Adrian Dix
Vancouver-Langara Moira Stilwell
Vancouver-Mount PleasantJenny Kwan
Vancouver-Point Grey Gordon Campbell
Vancouver-Quilchena Colin Hansen
Vancouver-West End Spencer Herbert
Vernon-Monashee Eric Foster
Victoria-Beacon Hill Carole James
Victoria-Swan Lake Rob Fleming
West Vancouver-Capilano Ralph Sultan
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky Joan McIntyre
Westside-Kelowna Ben Stewart

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