PRESS RELEASE: VANDER ZALM Invites Premier, Finance Minister to join British Columbians in calculating HST costs
Sep 22, 2009 Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, September 21, 2009
Delta – Fight HST Leader, Bill Vander Zalm, has invited Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen to fill out an “HST Hit List” together with other British Columbians to help them calculate the real cost of the HST to each person and family.
At anti-HSTrallies held across BC on Saturday, September 19, the Fight HST group handed out brochures that contained a list of many items previously exempted from Provincial Sales Tax (PST) that will now be subject to the new 7% levy in the HST.
Vander Zalm is asking newspapers across BC to publish the list for their readers, so they can do their own calculation. The list, prepared by a group calling themselves angryformerbcliberals.ca, contains a wide assortment of items, but still does not cover everything affected.
“The Finance Minister is going around the province saying we’ve got it wrong, that we’re exaggerating the cost of this to the average family. What people are actually finding when they do the calculation, is that it is even worse than they anticipated originally,” explained Vander Zalm.
“So to make it fair, we are asking the Premier and his Finance Minister to calculate the cost for themselves and their families. It will give them a chance to either prove their point that it is only a couple of hundred dollars to the average person, or perhaps to see that maybe they have not looked at it as closely as they should have, given that it was their idea,” said Vander Zalm.
“We think they may be as shocked as many of the taxpayers who have done this have been. Even when you factor in any tax changes or reductions in other areas, it is still a huge hit to the average British Columbian’s pocketbook,” said Vander Zalm.
Tags: assortment, average person, bill vander zalm, british columbians, brochures, delta, FightHST, finance minister, hansen, HST, levy, newspapers, pocketbook, premier gordon campbell, provincial sales tax, sales tax, tax changes, taxpayers




