NO BC HST
Information
Category:
Common Interest - Politics
Description:
The BC Liberal government's proposed HST - Harmonized Sales Tax - will mean huge tax increases on consumer goods and services - from haircuts and restaurant meals to new homes!

Ordinary British Columbians will pay for the a tax shift of $1.9 billion from big business.

We have one year to stop Premier Gordon Campbell from imposing the HST - without consultation and after his party publicly said before the May 2009 election it would not bring in an HST!

Join now and tell your MLA you don't... (read more)
Privacy Type:
Open: All content is public.

Admins

Officers

Bill
Administrator
Phil
Deputy Administrator
Report Group
 

Basic Info
 

Name:
NO BC HST
Category:
Common Interest - Politics
Description:
The BC Liberal government's proposed HST - Harmonized Sales Tax - will mean huge tax increases on consumer goods and services - from haircuts and restaurant meals to new homes!

Ordinary British Columbians will pay for the a tax shift of $1.9 billion from big business.

We have one year to stop Premier Gordon Campbell from imposing the HST - without consultation and after his party publicly said before the May 2009 election it would not bring in an HST!

Join now and tell your MLA you don't... (read more)
Privacy Type:
Open: All content is public.

Contact Info
 

Email:
Website:
http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/
Location:
Vancouver, BC

Recent News
 

News:
Ontario introduces Harmonized Sales Tax legislation

The Ontario Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty introduced a bill on November 16 that will combine the provincial sales tax with the GST into a new HST, starting in July 2010.

Similar legislation will be needed by Premier Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government.

Meanwhile, Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer reports that the provincial Finance Committee got a clear message from British Columbians about Campbell's proposed HST: "There was no disguising that the bulk of the feedback -- almost 3,500 submissions, mostly written or on-line -- was strongly negative about the government's post-election surprise."

* * * * *

Save now because the HST is looming to pick your pocket

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday October 13, 2009

By Bill Tieleman

Consumers will pay more — there's no getting around it. The truth is it is a shift in taxation.

- Stephen Spector, Certified General Accountants Association of B.C. president

How much will the B.C. Liberals’ Harmonized Sales Tax cost you?

If Premier Gordon Campbell isn’t stopped, consumers will pay $1.9 billion a year in HST, with the revenue going to big business, not public services.

But how much more would you personally pay if the B.C. sales tax on previously exempted goods and services jumps from the 5% GST to the 12% HST?

Let’s look at some of the new HST costs.

The food and non-alcoholic drink portion of restaurant meals jumps 7%. If you spend $100 a month, add $84 extra HST a year.

Watch TV? On a monthly $60 cable bill, HST adds an extra $50.40.

Surf the Internet? At $50 a month, the HST adds $42 a year.

Belong to a gym? Play golf? Watch the Canucks? You can add 7% more on all of these.

Gym fees of $40 a month would mean an extra $33.60 a year. The HST on two tickets to a Canucks game for $142 is $9.94. Play weekend golf at the University of B.C. eight times for $560 and add $39.20 HST.

Love theatre? Spend $300 on tickets, add $21 in HST. Catch a movie? At $12.50 a ticket, going once a month will add $10.50 in HST annually.

Got a phone? And cell phone? If you spend $100 monthly on both – and good luck! – that means an extra HST charge of $84.

Subscribe to a daily newspaper [when 24 hours is free]? The Vancouver Sun and Province daily delivery annual rate of $530 will mean over $37 extra HST.

Have a dog or cat? If Fido or Fluffy need serious veterinarian help, a $1,000 bill will be $70 more with HST.

But enough small stuff – let’s spend some real money.

How about that big trip to Europe next summer? Airline tickets for two - $3,000. Experience – priceless. New HST charges - $210.

Buying a brand new home? Houses and apartments priced under $400,000 get an HST rebate but 40% of all sales in B.C. cost more than that.

So for an $800,000 house, Vancouver Real Estate Direct estimates you’ll pay a whopping extra $36,140.

And don’t forget real estate commission fees go up from 5% to 12% HST.

Own a condo? All building maintenance as well as property management firm fees will get an extra 7% HST too.

Even death can’t cheat the HST - funeral services go up an extra 7% too!

And this is only a partial list. Unfortunately, the B.C. government website on HST for some strange reason doesn’t even have all these examples, let alone a complete list.

But if you’ve had enough of harmonization go to www.FightHST.com and sign up. And join my 127,000 member NO BC HST protest group on Facebook as well.

* * * * *

The next step is the BC Initiative to stop the HST - please go to www.FightHST.com and sign up to be a canvasser or organizer in your riding! We can force the BC Liberal government to back down if enough people join together!

* * * * *


Wow - we've now hit over 125,000 members of NO BC HST! Amazing! Keep spreading the word.

* * * * *

Great work - the big rally against the HST on Saturday September 19 in downtown Vancouver was a huge success, with 5,000 attending! Don't believe some media reports saying "just 1000" - look at the photos or TV coverage! And 18 other rallies across BC - were a success too.

* * * * *

Hi everyone - I am back from holidays in Holland and France - and I have seen the ugly future of the HST if imposed - the TVA tax in France is their sales tax and the rate is 19.6% on most goods and services!

Great news that we now have over 118,000 members!

Please stay tuned for more info and please attend rallies on Saturday September 19 at noon in Vancouver and several other cities - see the Events Section here.


* * * * *
Simply fantastic - now over 100,000 members on NO BC HST!!! That's a number the BC Liberal government cannot ignore.

NO BC HST is probably the largest BC Facebook protest group ever - and it only started on July 25!

Thank you everyone and keep passing on the word to friends, family and co-workers to join and stop the HST!

I will be on holidays till September 6 but the battle continues - please keep telling family, friends and co-workers to sign up!

BUT - one warning - the F-word is not welcome on the Wall postings - any message using it will be deleted - as will other defamatory or violent comments.

Please keep the comments clean so we can win this fight!

ALSO - URLs posted in the Links section with nothing to do with the HST will be removed - this Facebook group is not about other issues and definitely not about unrelated commercial interests.

* * * * *
Thanks to Billy's Bike Barn for use of the great new NO BC HST logo they created! Watch for T-shirts and bumper stickers soon.

* * * * *

A new website has been set up to fight the HST and provide info - it is not part of this group but check it out at: http://saynotohstinbc.ca/

* * * * *

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours newspaper/The Tyee online column for Tuesday August 11, 2009

The HST is going to be good for all concerned, but there are exceptions.

- B.C. Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger

There is only one way to stop the B.C. Liberals’ plan to impose a Harmonized Sales Tax on British Columbians -- a recall campaign that ends their legislative majority.

Premier Gordon Campbell is clear -- despite enormous opposition and more than 65,500 people joining my Facebook protest group NO BC HST -– that he will go ahead despite the fact that 85 per cent of BCers despise the HST.

Those Ipsos Reid polling results show that people realize anything currently taxed with the five per cent GST will get an extra 7 per cent tax added on in July 2010 for a total 12 per cent HST.

Consumers would pay an extra $1.9 billion a year –- with all that money going to big business. Not a dime of the HST will pay for healthcare, education or social services.

It looks like the only way to force Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen to drop the HST is to threaten their legislative majority and, if necessary, recall enough B.C. Liberal MLAs that they cannot remain in government.

The appropriate response to abuses of power is to remove that power. Taking out just eight B.C. Liberals would defeat the government.

It’s not easy. Despite promises to improve recall legislation -- sound familiar? -- the Campbell government did nothing.

But it’s also far from impossible.

First, the recall campaign cannot start under Elections B.C. rules until 18 months after the election -- November 2010 -- but organizing can take place now to identify voters who want to recall their B.C. Liberal MLA.

That’s important because once the recall petition process begins you only have 60 days to collect the signatures of 40 per cent of voters who were registered voters for that riding during the May 12th provincial election.

A tough task -- but recall pre-organizing can happen without spending limits until petitions are filed.

Successful recall pre-organizing could panic the government into dropping the HST, because if not, Campbell and Hansen would lose power long before the 2013 election.

That may be enough, but if not, here are the unlucky 13 B.C. Liberal MLAs easiest to recall, in order of their percentage of votes won in 2009:

Eric Foster -- Vernon-Monashee, 37 per cent; John Slater -- Boundary-Similkameen, 37 per cent; Pat Pimm -- Peace River North, 43 per cent; Bill Barisoff -- Penticton, 44 per cent; John Les -- Chilliwack, 45 per cent; Murray Coell -- Saanich North and the Islands, 45 per cent; Marc Dalton -- Maple Ridge-Mission, 46 per cent; Ida Chong -- Oak Bay, 47 per cent; George Abbott -- Shuswap, 47 per cent; Terry Lake -- Kamloops-North Thompson, 47 per cent; Margaret MacDiarmid -- Vancouver-Fairview, 47 per cent; Don McRae -- Comox Valley, 47 per cent; Donna Barnett -- Cariboo-Chilcotin, 48 per cent.

And one more for good measure. At 17th place, there is Gordon Campbell -- Vancouver-Point Grey, 50 per cent.

In addition to this Facebook group NO BC HST you can sign other NO HST online petitions at the links below:

* * * * *

Several people have asked me to post the BC NDP online petition against the HST - it's at:

http://www.bcndp.ca/hstpetition

There are also other petitions at:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoptheHST/signatures-6.html

And

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/BCANTIHST

And the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association has a petition at:

http://www.bcrfa.com/SurveyForm/1248730913469-1678/pC/home/

There's also a Prince George-based petition started by City Councilor Brian Skakun at"

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/citycouncillor

* * * * *

Global TV - Ipsos Reid poll shows 85% oppose HST

A Global TV poll conducted by Ipsos Reid found that 85% of British Columbians surveyed opposed the Harmonized Sales Tax.

And 71% said they "strongly oppose" the HST, while just 12% are in favour of the HST.

87% expect the HST to hurt them financially, including 51% who believe it will have a "very negative impact".

* * * * *
Be very afraid of the HST

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours and The Tyee column

Tuesday July 28, 2009

"This is the single biggest thing we can do to improve B.C.'s economy."

-- Premier Gordon Campbell

Be very afraid. The B.C. Liberals' planned Harmonized Sales Tax is the biggest rip-off of British Columbians imaginable.

Rather than "improve" B.C.'s economy, the HST will force ordinary British Columbians to pay an extra 7 per cent on a wide range of consumer goods and services -- from restaurant meals to haircuts to bicycles to new homes to airline tickets to funeral services and much more.

That additional tax will force many to cut their expenditures just at a time when the recession is already damaging the economy -- the last thing we should be doing.

It will particularly devastate certain sectors of the economy, especially restaurants, by forcing consumers to pay an extra 7 per cent on the food portion of all meals.

It will add an extra 7 per cent cost to a wide range of professional services, including accounting, architecture, household renovations, home care, massage therapy, dry cleaning, repair services for appliances and more.

So who benefits? Big business. That's why the B.C. Business Council, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and a host of other business groups are supporting the tax.

The HST will transfer $1.9 billion from individuals and give that money to big business.

Theoretically, businesses could reduce prices by 7 per cent because they can recover the PST they now pay. But if you think that will happen say hi to the Easter Bunny for me.

Who else benefits? The B.C. Liberal government, which will get $1.6 billion from the Stephen Harper Conservative federal government to "implement" the HST -- money it can spend however it likes.

And guess what? B.C. will still dramatically slash public services because the new tax revenue will only offset reduced taxes on big business.

The HST is a highly regressive tax. That is, it disproportionately impacts lower income earners because far more of their limited income will be spent paying the tax than higher income earners.

If we need a tax increase to pay for public services in the recession, the government should be using a temporary progressive income tax increase, not a permanent regressive one.

Improve B.C.'s economy? Give me a break! This is a pure tax grab and transfer.

Take restaurant meals -- currently consumers pay no Provincial Sales Tax on the food portion -- only on alcohol sales. After the HST comes in, you will pay an extra 7 per cent on the food.

And guess what happens?Restaurant sales go down. Servers and staff see reduced sales, hours of work and tips.

The restaurant industry is blunt in its assessment of what happened and the unhappy results.

"This government made a promise less than three months ago to the people of British Columbia that there would be no new taxes," says Mark von Schellwitz of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association.

"Harmonization will result in a permanent tax shift of hundreds of millions of dollars to our customers."

And take my own consulting business West Star Communications -- I currently am obliged to charge the 5 per cent GST on services.

With the HST it appears -- the government still hasn't given proper guidelines -- that I will have to charge an extra 7 per cent for a massive total of 12 per cent on services.

This is an increase in taxation of more than double with no, repeat, no change in anything I or my clients do! I'm sure my clients will not be happy to pay more taxes for the same work.

That goes for other professional services. Every one of them has to charge an extra 7 per cent. And guess who will pay? Their customers.

The only benefits of the HST are for big businesses that can flow through the costs to their customers!

The BC Liberals expressly rejected the idea of an HST during the last election -- misleading voters once again about their true intentions, just like with the sale of BC Rail, the size of the 2009 budget deficit and current health care cuts.

"A harmonized goods and services tax is not something that is contemplated in the B.C. Liberal election platform," was the governing party's identically worded reply to both the Greater Vancouver Homebuilders' Association and the Restaurant and Food Services Association.

And there has been zero, no, nada, nyet consultation with the public about even the idea of an HST -- just the surprise imposition of an unfair tax!

But there's still time to stop this tax grab.

You can start by joining my new Facebook protest group, NO BC HST.

The B.C. Liberals shouldn't get away with imposing an unfair tax that they denied even considering -- and then ripping off consumers permanently!