Harper's HST vastly oversold in B.C., report finds

A few days after the federal election, we've learned that big business will make off like bandits, consumers will take a hit and revenue neutral was yet another lie.

The Globe and Mail:

A government-appointed panel has undermined several of the government’s own selling points in favour of the HST ahead of the coming provincewide mail-in referendum on the controversial consumer tax.

The four-member panel found the HST will bring no more than a modest benefit to the B.C. economy, create nowhere near the 113,000 new jobs hoped for when the tax came into effect last year, and is far from revenue neutral.

The number of new, “better-paying jobs” was pegged at 24,400, a far cry from the 113,000 added jobs predicted in an earlier, oft-quoted government report by Calgary economist Jack Mintz.

The panel estimated that HST is costing B.C. families an average of $350 more a year.

However, their study added that low-income families with annual earnings below $10,000 – about 15 per cent of the B.C. total – are actually better off under the HST because of government rebates they receive.

Bill Tieleman, a leader in the fight to kill the HST, said their findings are devastating for the government.

“It clearly shows the average family is going to spend hundreds of dollars extra because of HST,” Mr. Tieleman said. “It shows the job creation the government suggested would happen isn’t happening. And it shows the government is making oodles and oodles of money – more than $800-million a year, when they said it would be revenue neutral. This is excellent news for us.”

In its summary, the panel agreed that returning to the old system of separate provincial and federal sales taxes will put more money in consumers’ pockets.

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