Anti HST Campaign hits referendum threshold

[VanIsle]

I searched for the old thread on this but - it was closed! Hope we have better luck this time:

VICTORIA — The campaign opposing the Harmonized Sales Tax in British Columbia has reached the threshold to force a referendum, organizers say.
Led by former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm, the campaign’s organizers say 10 per cent of registered voters in all 85 provincial ridings have signed the petition to kill the proposed HST.
The final riding to reach that level was Vancouver-Langara, which passed the marker Friday morning.
The campaign proposes to rip up the agreement between the federal government and B.C. to establish the 12 per cent HST that is to come into effect on July 1.
Opposition to the tax, which combines the five per cent GST with the seven per cent PST, is fuelled by anger that the HST will be applied to everything the GST covered, including many items previously exempt from the provincial tax.
The campaign has plans for a major push this weekend to get as many of the 85 ridings past the 15 per cent threshold — to be certain that more than 10 per cent of the signatures will stand scrutiny to validate them.
The campaign has been targeting the higher figure in order to ensure they get the right number of signatures required by Elections B.C., allowing for some people not on the voter’s list or signing on outside of their ridings.
Fight HST organizer Chris Delaney has said the campaign will try to get numbers as high as they can to send a message to individual MLAs that they are within striking distance of recall numbers.
A recall campaign would require 40 per cent of registered voters voting to recall a MLA.
The deadline to collect signatures is July 5.


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/anti+campaign+hits+referendum+threshold/3087773/story.html#ixzz0pMDlivsM
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[VanIsle]

I have to admit I am a little surprized that even though the petitions have garnered enough support to bring this to a referendum, not one BC person has responded to it. Will it be the same response come referendum day. Will everyone stay at home and not vote?

 

[Kreskin]

It's hard to say. I look forward to a referendum.

 

[Cliffy]

I'll be there. You can count me in. Up the Establishment!!!!

 

[JLM]

I have to admit I am a little surprized that even though the petitions have garnered enough support to bring this to a referendum, not one BC person has responded to it. Will it be the same response come referendum day. Will everyone stay at home and not vote?

From what I can gather listening to different "experts", there is contraversy as to over the long haul whether we will pay more or less. I did sign the petition the other day. Apparently talking to the woman in the dental office, dental costs won't be affected. Low end real estate won't be affected, so I am beginning to have second thoughts. Why can't someone just tell us it's going to cost/save us "x" amount per year instead of just getting more and more bullsh*t. But then we've always know politicians aren't honest - on either side. :-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?

 

[FiveParadox]

As much as I look forward to the citizens of British Columbia becoming truly engaged with Her Majesty’s Government for British Columbia on what has become such a critical issue, I hold very little hope for the final outcome of this entire process. The Recall and Initiative Act, when we get right down to brass tacks, cannot force the Government of British Columbia to undo the harmonised sales tax.

Should the petition prove entirely valid, it would be forwarded to the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives. The committee would then have one hundred twenty days to determine what to do with the initiative; the committee members have two options. One is to recommend, in a report tabled before the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, that the Government introduce a bill at the earliest opportunity to repeal the harmonised sales tax. The Act only requires the Government to introduce the bill; but Government members of the Legislative Assembly are free to defeat that bill as soon as it reaches the House (which would essentially render the initiative defeated).

The committee’s other option is to return the initiative to the Chief Electoral Officer of British Columbia, which would have the effect of launching a referendum on the issue. To pass the referendum, 50% of the province’s total registered voters (not just 50% of those who go out to vote on the referendum) must support the initiative, and 50% of registered voters in two-thirds of constituencies must support the initiative. Even if the referendum were to pass with 60%, but less than two-thirds of our constituencies passed it with 50%, the referendum would fail. The only result of a successful referendum is that the Government would have to exercise the option given above, which it would defeat on its own.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

That was precisely my question, and you answered it, FP. Will the referendum do any good? Even if BC residents reject harmonized tax (and they very well may, ask people if they want to pay less taxes, the answer almost always will be, yes), the government can simply ignore the referendum.

After all, what are BC people going to do, vote for NDP? Perish the thought. Let us face it, the Liberal government has you people ever the barrel. BC is really slowly turning into another Alberta, a one party state.

So my prediction is, even if there is a referendum and people vote to reject harmonization, it will most certainly go ahead. And so it should. Tax decisions are not something that should be taken by majority vote, we have government for that. If people don’t like the way government is handling the economy they can always throw them out.

 

[JLM]

Alberta has been a "one party state" since 1935 and the citizens while thriving for most of that period have obviously not been unhappy with that situation. :smile::smile::smile:

 

[Mowich]

I have to admit I am a little surprized that even though the petitions have garnered enough support to bring this to a referendum, not one BC person has responded to it. Will it be the same response come referendum day. Will everyone stay at home and not vote?

I signed the petition about three weeks ago now, VanIsle. A neighbor of mine went door to door in our area and not one person refused to sign the petition, he told me. Also there were booths set up around 100 Mile that at times had long lines of people waiting to sign.

You can definitely count on me to be at the voting booth.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I signed the petition about three weeks ago now, VanIsle. A neighbor of mine went door to door in our area and not one person refused to sign the petition, he told me. Also there were booths set up around 100 Mile that at times had long lines of people waiting to sign.

You can definitely count on me to be at the voting booth.

BC people may well pass the referendum, it is not inconceivable. The question is whether it will do any good. Somehow, I doubt that.

Interestingly, there isn't much opposition to harmonization in Ontario. Conservative leader tried to make political capital out of it, tried to rouse the people, but it went nowhere. Harper and Flaherty strongly support harmonization, but Hudak wouldn't condemn them, he would condemn only Premier McGuinty. He was laughed out of court as a hypocrite, his opposition to harmonization being politically motivated.

 

[JLM]

I signed the petition about three weeks ago now, VanIsle. A neighbor of mine went door to door in our area and not one person refused to sign the petition, he told me. Also there were booths set up around 100 Mile that at times had long lines of people waiting to sign.

You can definitely count on me to be at the voting booth.

I think you are about as wise as any one. What are the facts re this proposed H.S.T.? Is it really going to cost us more as many suggest or save us money as many others suggest? How much will the extra costs/savings be? I started out trusting Bill Vanderzalm on this, now I honestly don't know. Has Bill drawn up a list of what the added taxes will be? This just seems to go on and on and on, but nobody is getting any the wiser. :smile::smile::smile:

 

[VanIsle]

From what I can gather listening to different "experts", there is contraversy as to over the long haul whether we will pay more or less. I did sign the petition the other day. Apparently talking to the woman in the dental office, dental costs won't be affected. Low end real estate won't be affected, so I am beginning to have second thoughts. Why can't someone just tell us it's going to cost/save us "x" amount per year instead of just getting more and more bullsh*t. But then we've always know politicians aren't honest - on either side. :-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?

There was a list of things that will now be taxed due to HST that never were before. I bet if you google that list you will find it and the truth with it. I'm not sure but from what I remember reading a few months back, high cost housing is charged lower tax than low cost but - starting July 1st. Actually the amout of tax (percentage) is the same but there is a ceiling on the high cost housing tax. They may have changed that but looking at the list put out by the government should give you the truth. I sincerely doubt that the woman in your dental office knows the full story. It's only about a week ago that Collin Hansen put a list out. It should not be too hard to find.

 

[Liberalman]

There was a list of things that will now be taxed due to HST that never were before. I bet if you google that list you will find it and the truth with it. I'm not sure but from what I remember reading a few months back, high cost housing is charged lower tax than low cost but - starting July 1st. Actually the amout of tax (percentage) is the same but there is a ceiling on the high cost housing tax. They may have changed that but looking at the list put out by the government should give you the truth. I sincerely doubt that the woman in your dental office knows the full story. It's only about a week ago that Collin Hansen put a list out. It should not be too hard to find.

Why not convince the province to reduce the PST portion of the HST?

 

[JLM]

There was a list of things that will now be taxed due to HST that never were before. I bet if you google that list you will find it and the truth with it. I'm not sure but from what I remember reading a few months back, high cost housing is charged lower tax than low cost but - starting July 1st. Actually the amout of tax (percentage) is the same but there is a ceiling on the high cost housing tax. They may have changed that but looking at the list put out by the government should give you the truth. I sincerely doubt that the woman in your dental office knows the full story. It's only about a week ago that Collin Hansen put a list out. It should not be too hard to find.

The following is what I found by googling........................http://hst.blog.gov.bc.ca/, it doesn't appear all that bad to me, so now I'm really confused...:lol::lol:

 

[petros]

It's only about a week ago that Collin Hansen put a list out. It should not be too hard to find.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/05/14/bc-hst-list.html

 

[VanIsle]

Delta – Former BC premier, Bill Vander Zalm, says his Fight HST team has completed a thorough analysis of the BC Government’s newly provided HST “list” that supposedly shows which items will be affected by HST, and says over 30 items are “missing in action”.
“We spent some time reviewing the list and have determined it is totally bogus. The government has, once again, deliberately tried to mislead the public when it comes to the HST. They just can’t seem to ever tell the truth,’ said Vander Zalm.
Vander Zalm says the list excludes almost all “services” that will now have HST applied to them.
“They left out items such as; catering; computer repair services; consulting services; commercial leases; fishing charters; home appraisals; investment counseling; limousine rentals; skiing; and even parking fees!”

Vander Zalm says that the HST applies to virtually every service that the GST applied to, so the government has no excuse for not knowing which items should have been included.
Vander Zalm says they are also playing games with HST applying on new home construction. He says the government list indicates “no change” to new homes under $525,000, with a confusing, small print footnote indicating “embedded PST of 2%” on new homes under $525K.
“The truth is, even after HST rebates new homes under $525,000 will have approximately 2% more tax added to them in HST. That means on a new house worth $300,000, buyers will pay an additional $6,000 in HST. On a big ticket item like a new home, that is a ton of money taken from consumers.”
“They’re calling it embedded PST. That is absolute trash. They eliminated the PST. It is 2% HST,” Vander Zalm explained.
“This all just points out the shenanigans they are playing. They are deceitful and incompetent. The real “HST Hit List” can be found on our web site at http://fighthst.com/revised-hst-hit-list-2010/. There are over 100 items where 7% more in HST will be applied than were previously under the PST. The government list has only 53 items, almost half the real number.”
“The BC Government list is bogus. The Finance Minister is bogus, and so is every MLA that supports this garbage,” concluded Vander Zalm.

 

[JLM]

Looking down the list there is one thing that stuck out like a wedding Pr*ck, reduced tax on disposable diapers. Like are we trying to reduce garbage or aren't we? Aren't cloth reusable diapers more environmentally friendly? :smile:

 

[VanIsle]

http://fighthst.com/bc-government-hst-list-a-bogus-con-job/

See if this will work. I tried to copy it but it copied much more than I anticipated and then when I cut it back, this site just deleted my whold post.
As an aside, when we received our bill from Shaw this week, they have a note printed on it stating that they will charge HST starting on July 1st. Then as I looked at my bill, they charged me for HST and my bill does not go into July. Everyone in BC that uses Shaw should check their bills.

 

[VanIsle]

For some reason, this site will not allow me to post anything regarding HST

 

[Kreskin]

Having come this far we know Vander Zalm isn't going away. Politics in BC will be very interesting over the next year.