NDP wants to speed up long goodbye to the HST
Posted August 29, 2011 3:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS1130) – The Harmonized Sales Tax took 11 months to bring in, so why will it take 19 months to make it go away?
That’s the question NDP leader Adrian Dix was asking today at the Crystal Mall in Burnaby, surrounded by Chinese Canadian small businesspeople he thanked for their role in voting down the tax.
“If you can go one way in 11 months, you should be able to do it, go the reverse, in at least that time,” he says. “Remember, the PST isn’t some unusual tax measure. It was the tax system that was in place basically from 1948 to June 30, 2010.”
Dix adds getting rid of the HST sooner than later is essential for BC’s economic well-being.
“Eleven months to bring it in and 19 months to take it out – I think most people would say that doesn’t make sense and that it should be done more quickly, if only to restore some stability to the economy.”
When asked if businesses that favoured the HST should be compensated now that that tax is on the way out, Dix laughed off the question.
He says no one ever talked about bailing out working families hurt by the HST.
