Premier Campbell is now reluctantly promising a referendum on the HST, a piece of legislation which should never have been implemented. Of course, the gesture is totally ingenuous and simply based on political expedience now the Liberals realize they have fashioned their own political noose.
If the HST referendum is to cost B.C. taxpayers $30 million as announced, then Campbell, Colin Hansen, and elected Liberal members of the Legislature are directly responsible. In addition to the suffering caused to B.C. taxpayers, we now will have an additional expense which could have been used for a number of worthy causes. Perhaps this amount should be deducted from their fat pensions for their undemocratic, political faux pas.
Mr. Campbell has informed us that he will fight for the HST and explain the benefits of the tax, which we, the ignorant taxpayers, are incapable of understanding. But, before the campaign gets underway, perhaps we should investigate the false premise on which the HST was implemented.
As explained after the fact, the HST is good for B.C. taxpayers because businesses benefit from lower operating costs which, in turn, will be passed on to consumers through lower prices. Really, Mr. Campbell, you cannot possibly believe such political tripe. It is perhaps more realistic and closer to the truth to say that businesses - which are hardly altruistic and there to maximize profits - will pocket the profits.
If it follows that a 12-per-cent HST is good for British Columbians, then next year, Campbell may argue that 15 per cent is even better. When times get tough and legislators are financially squeezed, they vote themselves a pay rise, but the working poor and those on fixed incomes have no such recourse. The HST helps Campbell's rich cronies but certainly not the poor.
Legislators need not worry about rising prices since their nest is well-feathered and fat pensions with COLA clauses will take them comfortably to the end of their days. The rest of us must sleep in featherless beds and our only recourse is to vote them out in the next election.
Dave Harrison
Prince George
