September 11, 2009
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The Great HST Swindle - by hook or by crook
The Great HST Swindle
By Hook or by Crook
In my more than five years in elected office, I have rarely seen such a determined and angry reaction from the voters in the northwest as I have to the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) by Premier Campbell and his partner, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
There are two main points people have raised with me time and again. First, people are furious about the way in which Campbell and Harper are forcing this tax on them. Second, they are worried about the damage the HST will have on our broken and stumbling economy. Make no mistake – this is a higher tax on virtually every product and service in our economy at a time when we simply cannot afford it.
Families, fixed-income seniors, and folks just struggling to get by will get hit by this additional tax on everything from meals at a restaurant, to haircuts, from buying a home, to buying medicine for your kids. Some have said we might call it a ‘death tax’ as now funeral services will also be hit by the tax.
More than 120,000 people have joined a Facebook group (NO BC HST) alone and the message must get through to Mr. Campbell and Mr. Harper, who certainly can recognize a tax revolt when they see one shaping up.
Perhaps the surest sign that the politicians know there’s trouble is to watch Conservative and Liberal MPs (who voted for the HST in the last federal budget in the spring) scurry away and try to pretend that they had nothing to do with it.
Hogwash.
The Finance Minister has sold this tax to provinces for months, put money in the budget to bribe Ontario and BC with $6 billion to help fill in part of their enormous deficits if they agree to this tax hike. Without this promise of federal dollars, the provincial government would not be so willing to hurt families, elicit a popular revolt, and hamstring our economy in such a critical financial time.
Our silence on the HST is simply not an option and people write to me and stop me on the street to voice their anger. They want to know how to stop this bad idea.
If we do not speak up, share our concerns, talk to our neighbours, then politicians like Mr. Harper and Mr. Campbell will hear only one message – that once in office promises can be broken, and the voters of this great province and nation will simply take it. From these very leaders who have blasted governments for any hint at tax hikes, this hypocrisy must be called out.
Please get online, fill out petitions (available at shops around the region and on the web Petition – Stop the HST) and talk to your neighbours and ask them to do the same.
Nathan Cullen, MP
Skeena-Bulkley Valley
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