By Barbara Yaffe December 17, 2009

A new poll showing ominous levels of opposition to B.C.’s proposed harmonized sales tax points to the Campbell government’s clumsiness in introducing the controversial tax.

The Ipsos-Reid survey, carried out during the last week of November, has 82 per cent of British Columbians opposing the 12-per-cent harmonized sales tax, due to take effect July 1.

The tax — to apply to everything from movie and airline tickets to haircuts and funerals –will raise $1.9 billion in Year 1, replacing an equivalent amount of provincial sales tax that B.C. businesses no longer will pay on their inputs.

In Ontario, 74 per cent are similarly opposed to a harmonized tax that will come in at 13 per cent.

Now, poll respondents naturally will be inclined to oppose any new tax. But why are B.C. residents more upset than Ontarians?

More than 100,000 British Columbians have signed petitions against the tax and there’s talk of a recall campaign, that legally could be launched next November.

The outsized disgruntlement is doubtless linked to the fact B.C. taxpayers feel hoodwinked by a tax introduced immediately following a vote last spring in which the Liberal government specifically pledged it wouldn’t introduce an HST.

Also, about half of British Columbians live in and around the Lower Mainland — a place with the wildest housing costs in Canada. Any tax that drives up residential costs, as the HST will on new homes valued at $525,000-plus, would be hard to stomach.

The housing situation means taxpayers in B.C. have less discretionary income, especially on the heels of a debilitating recession. In addition, according to a calculation by Fairchild TV last week, the average family of five will have to now find an extra $2,688 for HST each year.

The McGuinty government courted Ontario taxpayers with HST exemptions on coffee and newspapers, a gesture aimed at symbolically softening the blow of the looming tax.

In B.C., no such olive branch has been extended. Here, unless you’re filling your gas tank with pricier gasoline (gasoline, like groceries, prescription drugs and rent, will be HST exempt) or buying children’s clothing, books, diapers or tampons, you’ll be out of luck.

Neither province has launched much of a campaign to educate its respective constituents on the merits of and basis for the HST.

Among legitimate arguments that could be mustered:

- To maintain its business competitiveness within Canada, B.C. has no choice but to introduce an HST given that all provinces, except Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island, already have harmonized.

- A B.C. government website promises harmonization “will save employers $2 billion that can be used to lower prices, increase investment and create jobs.”

But the Ipsos-Reid poll reveals taxpayers don’t believe they’ll ever see such savings and benefits. To bolster its case, Victoria should pledge to create a monitoring agency to ensure savings do get passed on and jobs do get created.

- Because B.C. housing costs are already excessive, HST rebates should be extended to apply to new home prices up to $1 million.

- The government claims one in four B.C. taxpayers, with low incomes, will receive an HST credit modeled on the system of GST credits. This notion hasn’t been sufficiently publicized.

No one is going to cheer any new tax initiative. But Gordon Campbell’s government has ensured B.C.’s HST debate will come back to haunt it.

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