YES!!!!! I know there were people who didn’t care or take the time to vote and I have to say, shame on them! This issue was a IMPORTANT referendum.

Personally myself, I totally disagreed with the manner this tax was brought in and implemented. The BC Liberals lied to us all and denied it was even on the table during Election time. I am tired of taxes being just adopted and shoved down our throats – we are over taxed in BC. Plain and simple.

It’s the people that run this province, you’re just there to do as we say… You told us there was going to be no HST and shortly after being elected, you dumped it on us… Our next job is to dump the Libs.

next is to get rid of christy clark and her liberal crony doggs

THAT was a lot of work! I am so proud of all our canvassers and those who first signed the petition and then those who made the time to vote YES in the referendum. I am delighted to hear that the “little guy” has won this fight. Now, let’s remove this particular group and elect people who promise just one thing – to listen carefully in order to do the right thing for everyone, not just the rich and powerful.

So sick of you people. You want all the benefit and welfare and you don’t want to pay more taxes. Where do you think the money will come from? The government will simply increase property tax and use other means to tax you.

Not so fast. Iain Black resigned his seat to allow Christy Clarke the opportunity to run in her old familiar riding. So if the election is in the fall, wouldn’t she run on positive news. Why risk losing the government when you have three years to raise your poll numbers. I think we’re being duped. I hope not, but why would Clarke get ready to run and possibly lose on negative news. I think we might be surprised at the result.

Hoping I’m wrong.

If this is true, be careful what you wish for…. you thought the HST was bad and that you are sick of being “taxed” to death? Want the Liberals out? That’s fine…. Just wait til YOU have to pay the piper for all the public sector union contracts to be renewed in the next 12 months.. in 2006, it cost BC taxpayers over $2.4 billion for 5 years of labour piece… hmmm I wonder where the 2.4 billion or more will come from now?… plus the cost to re-instate all the PST auditors, the systems and offices, and the $1 billion transfer fee… the public may have “spoken” and now because of public ignorance you WILL pay.. Enjoy! It will be fun to watch you all deal with what the next year brings.

Unions suck. Do some research. Property taxes are decided by the municipality based on their budget and the mill rate. As far as paying for things, try fair taxation before you blame the declining middle class of wanting welfare and pensions that somehow take money from your pocket. Research how many dollars the ordinary Joe spent in taxes to build the Vancouver convention centre that is basically there for business’s benefit. We get none of the revenue but pay yearly subsidies. Talk about welfare.

Are you saying it isn’t revenue neutral after all, Union_Sucks? Gasp!

What none of you seem to understand is that with the PST back in place, we pay more tax than we did or would with the HST. Plus we lose businesses that create jobs. The absolute incompetence of left wing people is absolutely shocking. Take some introductory economics and/or accounting courses and then you might understand.

If you people have it your way, we will all be unemployed and our government will be in the same position as the Greeks… And if the NDP ever wins an election here again that is guaranteed to happen. Socialists do nothing but drain and destroy all while they tell themselves they are doing something good.

I agree with Union_Sucks! You lazy bums. The HST was a good thing. As a business owner, it’s going to really suck to have to implement PST into my business again. F*ck this!

If this is true, great! Next plan of attack:

Let the BC PST office collect GST for Harper and BC keeps the $1.6 Billion. I believe the PST office hasn’t been completely dismantled yet. It wasn’t Harper’s money to give away to induce a BC government sell out in the first place.

I would have been all for the HST if the liberals had done a better job of throwing it at us and also if once they brought it in the had kept the things that were exempt under the PST. That is where it really hurt families! Some things just should not be taxed ie school supplies, kids clothes, funerals, just to name a few! And how does one claim to have a green province when they tax bikes and all the accessories that go with it! We need to get rid of Christy Clark and the rest of her liberal sheep!

*forehead slap*
You people just don’t get it… Let me try and explain simply:

1. They bring back GST and PST. There are no promises that previous exemptions will be reinstated.
2. That means you could still pay 12% on everything (5% + 7%) whereas HST was going to decrease to 10%.
3. Collecting 2 taxes needs more civil servants. This means government costs are higher. Where do you think that extra money will come from? (clue: starts with “higher” and ends with “taxes”)

Sure, they said no HST then went and did it. Bad, wrong, but we’ve dealt with that. Instead of thinking practically, for the long term good of the province, you people have voted emotionally because of something that happened a year ago. If this article is right and the HST goes, you’ve hurt yourself and the whole province. Well done. Let’s see where we’re at 3 years from now. None of you who voted yes are allowed to complain then mmkay?

Where are these so-called jobs? Its been a year… Unfortunately most right wingers/economists and people with ACTUAL intelligence know that the economic disasters of the world will only be solved by fair taxation. Not of people but of the rich. Raise property taxes, most young people don’t own homes anyways so who cares, bankrupt homeowners so housing becomes affordable again. And now that the HST is gone I will happily spend money again – ie. restaurants, camping, maybe even be able to afford a house.

Fuck you Brad, fuck you Union_Sucks, you can both eat shit and pay your fair share. Lazy greedy fuckers.

Fuck me? oh I pay my fair share. I don’t collect welfare. I run a successful business, pay lots of taxes to the government, I don’t complain about it. I hire employees, I pay them well, I help the economy. Fuck me? Fuck you, you lazy socialist.

We also have to remember 2 things about the PST/GST that people seem to be forgetting when thinking that the HST is better. First of all, we didn’t pay it on absolutely everything! The majority of items/services that were purchased were only taxed one tax or the other. Not both. Second of all, our government could survive when it was with the PST/GST. Other provinces can do this without having to have a major tax hike.

A couple other things regarding this, there isn’t any real guarantee that after 2014 when the HST would of gone down to 10%, that they would raise it up to 14% or even worse. But you really have to see where our taxpayer money really goes. The CEO & President of BC Ferries is making around 1 million dollars a year, with a pension of ~$315,000. That’s alot of money that doesn’t really need to be paid. Who really needs to be making $315,000 once you’re retired and not even working?!?! The BC Ferries fares are so damn high, that it’s out of most people’s budgets to use the ferry system, meanwhile the CEO is making right now around 1 million.

VOTE NDP NEXT ELECTION

Intelligence – even the government’s own Independent Panel says HST costs families $1.3 billion more and that’s with 90% pass through of PST savings from business as price cuts.

Stunned – there has already been a ruling saying that PST will be brought back exactly as it was. Of course after that the government can change it as it likes and face the wrath of the people again. The pittance ($30 million) to run the PST system is nothing when compared to the #1.3 billion extra cost (see above). Reducing the rate does nothing except reduce revenues which will require other tax increases or service cuts.

I’ve never voted NDP and never will, but now I am hoping for an NDP government… just so all of you can finally see what it means to pay the piper. I’m not struggling paycheque to paycheque like many of you are, so I will not be affected by the inevitable “OMG holy crap” moment that’s going to come as a result of deferring raising the revenue needed to run this province.

It is a short-sighted and hollow victory when you steal money from your future children’s mouths and education. Where on earth do all of you expect that money to come from? Less taxes, less taxes! More benefits, more benefits! Higher wages, less taxes, more free stuff! Did all of you fail math?

This is not a rhetorical question — where do you expect these funds to come from? This was a solidly-founded infrastructure upon which the future of this province could have depended. We are now back to square one.

I understand the venom thrust upon the past/current Liberal government who shoved the HST down our throats in a most unpleasant manner… but to some extent it was the same sort of effort needed to get your kid or dog to swallow the medicine you know is good for him. He doesn’t want it now, but he’ll sure wish he’d swallowed it if he doesn’t and then gets a lot sicker.

Anyway, congratulations to all of you… I think you’re all too young to remember the NDP governments of years past and what a colossally disfunctional and criminal collusive group of public-trough rapers they were. You think they hold the answer? It’ll be the same old crap, only this time it will have scared away small, medium and big business who, like last time, went running to Alberta and farther east — if not far, far away.

“Be careful what you wish for” — well, now you got it. Good luck, you will all need it.

to “Union_Sucks” Taxes are needed to run things, that’s a given. My beef is that the big corporations get tax breaks we do not. They should have the same tax responsibilities as we do, especially since they have a big enough bottom line for huge CEO salaries, bonuses and shareholder returns. Instead of giving them all the fancy schmancy tax breaks and back-room deals (which then commit the gov’t to favour big business over a healthy province) everyone should pay their fair share. Then there is enough of a tax base to do what needs to be done. Then the middle class does not disappear–that’s the lion’s share of the tax base. You can’t pay taxes if you are unemployed. Fix infrastructure, get schools and medical facilities sufficiently staffed, get things done so people have jobs. I don’t mind paying taxes when I have a job. But when I’m unemployed and am still forking out HST on everything while the corporations get all that tax money refunded to them, well that just pisses me off.

This is to “Intelligence”: Take a look at the tax system and gov’t of Norway and you will see a system WAY to the left of what we are talking about. And it works. Their education, health and non-crime stats are far and above ours. Now cast your glimpse to the south, the good old USA, which has been run on the trickle-down economics we learn about in college. Education, health, and non-crime stats are in the toilet. The country is going broke. Oh. Except for the .01% who hold 80% of the wealth and pay less than half the taxes everyone else pays. That’s WAY right to what we’ve ever had here. The day is gone that we can be scared off by those who apparently know economics. We know what we see, observe and experience. Trickle-down economics don’t work. Of course I get that those who are in a higher earning bracket do not have that perspective, don’t see that. Of course not. They only see their fat bank accounts and figure things are going just fine.

This is to “Stunned”: Your fear tactics might have had a chance at some traction if you had thought the math through. No HST would have been considered if it hadn’t meant more taxe income. So quit trying to say it (or even the 10% which I doubt would ever have happened) would be cheaper than the 2 taxes. If they simply wanted the simplified bookkeeping, competition with other provinces and countries and all the other reasons they used to justify the tax, they could have put out a suggestion of a 10% HST–which is still more than we were paying but the tradeoff would be all the advantage stuff you are talking about. And people probably would have gone for it. I’m glad the people spoke up and said WTF. I’d like the lower economics of the province to work as well as the top bit does. You can’t do that with trickle-down economics.

I’ve never voted NDP and never will, but now I am hoping for an NDP government… just so all of you can finally see what it means to pay the piper. I’m not struggling paycheque to paycheque like many of you are, so I will not be affected by the inevitable “OMG holy crap” moment that’s going to come as a result of deferring raising the revenue needed to run this province.

It is a short-sighted and hollow victory when you steal money from your future children’s mouths and education. Where on earth do all of you expect that money to come from? Less taxes, less taxes! More benefits, more benefits! Higher wages, less taxes, more free stuff! Did all of you fail math?

I’m positing this again because my first attempt was censored a few minutes after I posted it. What, the truth hurts a little too much? It’s not even official yet and already you don’t want to hear the criticism? Wow, we’re in for a long 4 years after the next election.

This is not a rhetorical question — where do you expect these funds to come from? This was a solidly-founded infrastructure upon which the future of this province could have depended. We are now back to square one.

I understand the venom thrust upon the past/current Liberal government who shoved the HST down our throats in a most unpleasant manner… but to some extent it was the same sort of effort needed to get your kid or dog to swallow the medicine you know is good for him. He doesn’t want it now, but he’ll sure wish he’d swallowed it if he doesn’t and then gets a lot sicker.

Anyway, congratulations to all of you… I think you’re all too young to remember the NDP governments of years past and what a colossally disfunctional and criminal collusive group of public-trough rapers they were. You think they hold the answer? It’ll be the same old crap, only this time it will have scared away small, medium and big business who, like last time, went running to Alberta and farther east — if not far, far away.

“Be careful what you wish for” — well, now you got it. Good luck, you will all need it.

if this is true, then I am truly disappointed with the people of BC. I know that a lot of people voted against HST because they didn’t like the way it was brought in. As a small business owner, I’d prefer to have HST and pay less in taxes than have all of the paperwork required for PST and GST and pay higher taxes. I think people were voting from their hearts and not understanding anything about the HST. I have to say, I’m shocked at the ignorance of so many in this province and it doesn’t make me proud to say I’m from BC. Yes, we may be paying taxes on a few more items than we did in the past, but wouldn’t you rather have 10% sales tax instead of 12%? I know I would. What a huge disappointment!

Not sure what BC residents were thinking … but HST saves a LOT on the long run. I’d guess, mostly poor and uneducated residents voted as they can only see personal benefits rather than overall improvement in quality of life!

Shame!

Spare me with the “all the paperwork for filing GST and HST”. Accounting software does it automatically and you file online. Puleese. It’s a piece of cake to file those reports. The unfair thing about the HST is the poorer people are paying the 12% and that money is going to the wealthy corporations. Along with their other tax breaks. Sheesh! It’s not a fair tax. It’s only fair for businesses. Small or large. But I have a small business and what I gain in the HST refunds is offset by reduced business income as my clients can’t afford to pay more. One pie, folks, and we want to give the giant slices to the corporations? Not me. I’m tired of that.

As a retailer I’ve seen what HST did to the consumer. An extra 7% on everything from junk food to kids clothes to any “service” you might require – from plumbers to house builders etc. etc. And it didn’t help our business any as the only PST we paid before was on hydro and the phone. Not enough to “pass through” savings to our customers, and the paperwork isn’t any better. Good riddance HST.

You fools…

We have only a short time to wait now. Although I was very anti HST I do feel that if the answer is to abolish it, we the people of BC will be punished by the Christi Clarke Liberals to such an extent we will be far worse off. As a senior I am struggling to make ends meet now, and so are many of my senior friends plus our children are struggling to raise our grandchildren – both parents working to make ends meet and the kids running wild without proper parental supervision – who can afford a bay sitter on a daily basis.. Going back to the old system without any guarantees that the old exemptions will be reinstation is pure stupidity and was never guaranteed. Politicians lie – that is well known and unfortunately proves to be the case whatever the party.
If the vote decides to abolish the GST – heaven help us all.

What are these “right wing” and “conservative” labels that people are placing on the liberals? Are you guys so uninformed about politics that you actually believe that LIBERALS are right wing conservatives?

The LIBERALS are liars (just compare campaign promises and actual deeds), and they are socialists! Tax and Spend Liberals are about as socialist as it gets. And if you’re comparing them to the NDP, well the NDP have roots in the Canadian Communist Federation. If fact, the late Jack Layton’s favorite quote was one that was coined by the founder of the Canadian Communist Federation.

It is high time that BC elected some real conservatives. Bill Z and your Social Cretid Party, where are you????

Maddi is an idiot. The PST was such crap – some things were taxed, some things weren’t. Manufacturers had to pay PST on shop supplies but not stuff that was used in making product. Messy if you bought tose supplies from the same supplier. Some things were taxed if used a certain way, but not taxed if used otherwise. If you happened to buy stuff you sold you had to prove to your supplier that you were a reseller to not pay PST, but if you happpened to consume that good in your own business, even if you gave the fucking thing away as a sample, you had to recalculate what PST you would have paid. This was such a hassle, and not many small to medium businesses knew this, but the PST auditors knew it, and knew that the businesses were ignorant of this fact. all they had to do was find one little error and multiply it by the pro rated audit size – if they found it in one month, they could assume you made that size of error for the 3 year sample they are allowed – it is up to you to prove it was a one time error. One error of a hundred dollars could translate to thousands with penalties and interest. The PST auditors had quotas of money they had to bring in. That was why it was stressful for the ones that couldn’t “find” errors in their audits and they ended up quitting. I hope Maddi’s accounting software is good enough to save her/him. Realizing of course, its not the car its the driver that fucks up.

HST/GST is a flow through tax, naturally landing on the end user without the bullshit of trying to figure out who that is at time of sale. The one down side I may have seen is for exporters who spend a lot on tax but don’t collect any from their customers. They can have a timing difference depending on when they pay their supplier and when they gat the HST/GST refund.

No matter what side you were on the people have spoken, turning out in record numbers (1.6 million) to abolish HST. PST and GST will not be more expensive than HST once you figure in the exemptions form pst and yes the government is reinstating them as they were. There was never any guarantee that the HST would go down to 10 %, it was only a promise as was the promise not to impose it in the elseections was. This will be harder for some businesses to calculate but for others working in the services industry such as waiter, hairstylist etc it means more money in tips in their pockets. As for this having anything to do with welfare thats rediculous as lower income people received payments to minimize the impact on them. This is a great day for democracy we all had the chance to vote and the PEOPLE made the decision…I personally am proud to be a Canadian living in B.C. right now!!

Yes, Yes, Yes. The public is far better off with no HST. At least no corporations and businesses will pay their fair share of the comsumption taxes instead of getting a free ride while using up valuable government (the public) tax dollars. You see if HST is in I get to claim all of my extra 12% back, of course only for business inputs, I only have business expenses, so I was getting a free ride at the expense of my nephews and my elderly parents and my T4 brothers.

I won because the tax system should be fair, but I lost because now I pay an equal share of using the roads, medical services used or unused, etc.

And if one looks at the breakdown per riding, it is the upper income riding that voted No. So I also won with a Yes because class warfare will hopefully be lowered.

I think some are completely missing point here. This is not, in my view, a left versus right wing scenario, or a union versus non union issue. I am essentially a right winger who does not support the unions…but does that mean I should not be disgusted by the way this tax was thrown at us? Does it mean I did not notice when, in 2010, I was suddenly charged 12% on a restaurant meal and certain groceries? Not at all! Certainly I notice it less now when we have all, inevitably, become accustomed over time to paying the extra – but I still remember how it made an impact at the time. I am not one struggling pay cheque to pay cheque but really, what does that have to do with it? I agree that those earning more money (and my household would fall into that category) should probably bear the brunt of the taxation system. While I don’t like it, it’s irrefutably logical. I agree that HST makes for easier administration for businesses (I do my employers GST/HST returns!), but where and when does the family, couple or individual that resides in BC see the benefit of that…?

So we voted down the HST, which I agree that I hated for the cost and sneakiness of implementation… but is it worth the cost to get rid of it? When you look at the fact that refunds are offered to needy families and lower income earners or that house buyers in the $400,000 and under range are effectively tax exempt, was it too much of a burden to bear? How much will each business have to pay in order to change over their systems… again? Its estimated it will cost the economy 3.2 billion… and I am wondering to myself who is going to pay that? That isnt money that can be used for new roads, better educational funding, etc. Its money spent buying new versions of accounting software etc.

Unbelivable, everybody is worried about the HST being eliminated, and costing us more in the long run, but this was a very ugly tax to begin with, all it was to increase revenue to a corrupt Liberal government.

Any government that contunually increases taxes eventually hits a “brick wall” and this is what has happened in BC. The people have had enough.

History has shown few taxes promotes the economy, and higher taxes stifles the economy.

You did the right thing BC, you now have to get in a government that has some kind of common sense.

good luck BC