NDP launches mission to destroy HST
 

http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/New...spx?ID=1121678

The opposition NDP has launched a mission to destroy the proposed Harmonized Sales Tax.

Party leader Carole James stood near Metrotown Mall in Burnaby to give supporters their marching orders, "To write to their MLA, to write to the premier, make their voice heard because this crosses over political lines. It's no wonder people are cynical about politics and politicians when they see an act like they see with the Liberal government. Where they told us during the election campaign that they weren't going to implement the HST. Then they turn around a couple of months later and implement the new tax. We have to stop that."

James says the new tax will cost consumers billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Colin Hansen is firing back at opposition leader Carole James for her criticism of the proposed HST.

Hansen says James hasn't done her homework about how the tax works.

He says small businesses pay provincial sales tax on many of their inputs, even if they don't show it on bills to their customers.

Hansen says only people who think businesses "eat" that cost will see the HST as more costly, "If you believe, which is actually the fact, that those costs get embedded into the cost of the goods and services and passed on to the ultimate consumer, then, this actually makes sense."

Hansen says only three other canadian provinces have yet to move toward a Harmonized Sales Tax structure.

He was speaking with CKNW's Sean Leslie on The World Today.

Businesses pass on savings to consumers? That's total bull

u can destroy HST, pst, gst. the government (whoever is in power) will find one way or another to fuck us over... period

over the long-term, yes, business eventually pass on the savings to consumers.

Also, business making more money = bigger pay raise = richer consumers at the end.

People need to stop seeing consumer and business as separate entities when you are considering the economy as a whole.

I don't mind if they add both taxes together to save on paperwork and administration costs, but to tax items that have not been taxed before under both taxes, is not right.

Again, us middle class and up folk will survive and chug along. It's the poor who will be hit yet again. Oh well, shit happens. Taxes are OK, if they pay for services we need, but it better be used wisely. I hate handing my money over to pay for dumbass projects that do little to ease the overall situation.

Reason why I am so bitter is because I'm expecting to buy a home in next 3 years and I'll be hit big.

i still don't get how it will be beneficial to businesses in the end... does anyone have a coles notes (dumb down) version of this HST thing?

ok. seriously. its not a lot of paper to remit GST & PST!!

Gordo's estimation of saving biz 1.9b in administration costs = BS!

it takes me about 30mins to prepare a GST return, and about 40 mins to do a PST return. not hard folks!

the only idiotic thing is that PST N GST returns are not due on the same day, so you have to spend time calculating numbers as of different days. if they change that , then it should be fine!

Right now, registered business can claim back the money they paid on GST, but not PST.
Example: if a company spent $100 + GST/PST on office supplies. They can claim back the $5 GST from the government. PST is none refundable. So the company actual expenses = $108. ($100 + PST)
With the new HST, the combined taxes both become refundable, thus, their real expense is now $100 instead of $108.

weird you spent less time preparing GST than PST as GST is usually a lot more complicated since you take into account all of your expenses as well as revenue, while with PST you only need to process your sales revenue.

so... how will this be beneficial to consumers in the long run? i can see why we can the shaft in the SR, but you mentioned that it will benefit the economy and consumers in the SR?

You'll only be effected if you were planning on buying a brand new never lived in home. There is no GST or soon to be HST on a lived in one. More incenetive to not buy new which is why developers are so choked and are going to be hit harder then anyone by this. If you have an option between a brand new house in the burbs listed at say 500K + 60K HST and then another house down the street thats a year old listed at 500K no HST which one would you buy?

I bought a new home in 2007 and seriously I regret it. At that time it was the 6% extra in GST, that money could have went to something else. I'll never buy a new home again I'll look for something lived in even if it's only a year old.

I've had experience doing GST alot more, so i got faster at it :)....

thanks for clarifying that quasi

+1 on both accounts.

The NDP's issue isn't what they're doing against the HST or promoting healthcare/social services, it's their fundamental philosophy with respect to governance. I just don't buy it, nor particularly trust their somewhat-idealist views of things. Not to mention that they've had their chance and screwed us over for the next few years.

The HST hurts the low income families, while it saves business. Extra % on food is NOT cool.

can NDP realli do something

Wouldnt it make sense to just allow businesses to claim back on PST as well as GST


lets be honest here the HST is just to grab more money from the public and isn't the most reasonable aid for businesses (who aren't exactly struggling because of PST)






if the public really decided to rally against the HST it would be the people doing something not the NDP, if the public rallies behind the NDP maybe theres a slightly impossible chance they could get a no-confidence vote or something (i got no clue) and get another election in before the HST comes into effect and then remove it :)

HST = It'll save the slump that we're gonna get fucked with post-olympics.

No HST = More money for welfare/lazy people/crack-addicts, while everything stays the same.

You know, if you tax the $100K+/year people an extra 5%, we could have tons of money.

I'm just saying.

But I do want to buy a new never lived in condo :(

+1

If government just let business claim back PST, THEN the government would be losing revenue. (And that never happens;))
With the HST, what happens (short term) is: Business +1, Consumer -1, Government 0
For the government, revenue lost from business being able to claim back their PST is offset by consumer paying for additional PST

in my view, what HST does is essentially shifting a tax burden from Business to Consumer, and in doing so, it increases the system efficiency slightly by saving business and government a bit of administrative costs..


Many consumers would argue this just screw them. However, the truth is lower business expenses either means lower prices for consumer OR higher co. income which leads to higher wages eventually. So at the end, it is really all the same.
The key proponent for introducing the HST is basically saving that bit of administrative expenses.

I too do not like to live in places where others have been in. No matter how clean it looks. Paying the extra is a price I'm willing to pay. I've been in four houses now and all have been new. Also, when you buy new, you can have it your way, like Burger King. Pick colours, carpets etc. My first house was a spec home in a subdivision where the houses have not yet been built. My second one, I basically had custom built. I bought the land, found a reputable builder, made all the cabinets myself from scratch and put in the hardwood floors, etc. Saved tonnes of money. The third was another pre-ordered home built by Park Lane, and the fourth, my present house, is a house that was already built and on the market as such. Anyway................. way off topic.