The B.C. government is extending to May the reporting of a harmonized sales tax panel on the implications of keeping the tax or returning to the provincial sales tax.
The panel made its request for two reasons: to ensure it incorporates the significant number of submissions it has received and to avoid overlap with the federal election, said the province.
The four-person panel led by former Alberta finance minister Jim Dinning was set to report their findings at the end of April ahead of a planned referendum on the HST.
The 12 per cent harmonized sales tax, which came into effect July 1, replaced the federal five per cent GST and the provincial seven per cent sales tax. Its introduction caused a public furor, and, in part, led to the resignation of Premier Gordon Campbell half way into his third term.
While the HST referendum is scheduled for September, Premier Christy Clark has said she will move up the vote to June 24.
Other panel members include former B.C. Auditor General George Morfitt, Coast Capital Savings CEO Tracy Redies, and Simon Fraser University professor John Richards.
Removing the HST has implications, as it would likely mean B.C. would have to pay back $1.6 billion to Ottawa, as well as the cost of any bureaucracy changes.
The B.C. Liberal government decided to move to a referendum after anti-HST forces led by former-B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm launched a successful initiative petition that gathered more than 700,000 signatures provincewide.
The introduction of the HST means consumers pay the provincial seven per cent portion of the HST on some new items including meals, domestic airline tickets, funerals, haircuts and new homes over $525,000.
The B.C. Liberal government argued introducing the HST was the single biggest action the government could take to boost the ailing economy. The Liberals say the $2-billion savings from the HST to the business sector will be reinvested in the economy and passed on to consumers.
