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Business
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It’s No Coincidence That BC Returns to the PST on April Fool’s Day

Today (March 31, 2013) is the last day of the HST in BC. For many business owners, tomorrow will be a day wrought with confusion. According to the latest polls, nearly 1/4 of the businesses that should be registering for the PST have not yet registered.

I recently contacted the BC PST help line with a question. I was told that they’d get back to me within 48 hour. It’s now been 7 days. I guess they’re backed up.

The return to the PST is going to hurt BC industry. For example, the BC Film industry is already competing with North American provinces and states that offer significant incentives. By removing the HST, film producers are looking at an increase of 7% on some of their expenses.

When the entire referendum nonsense started, I told people that removing the transparent HST will only result in the Province implementing changes that are not so transparent. For example, MSP premiums have increased, the basic provincial tax exemption has decreased, ICBC premiums have increased….etc… etc…

The very people that were crying out the loudest at the travesty that was the HST are going to be the ones that will be paying for the change. Initial estimates of the impact on the lower and middle class tax payers shows that this change back to PST will cost the average earner around $2,000 per year.

I’ve heard many of the anti-HST “specialists” stating that “this price is a small price to pay for securing our democracy”. I assume that this refers to the fact that the HST was implemented by the Liberals through some pre/post election slight-of-hand. Well, for me personally, I’d rather keep my $ 2,000. For those that feel that our (BCs) democracy was threatened, I suggest they try living in a country like Cuba, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, etc…..

It’s too bad that these same peoples that were so adamant about saving “democracy” were not more inclined to focus on the real problems such as homelessness, child abuse, addiction.

 

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