Dear Editor:
Your editorial, A Costly Victory, seems to present a simplistic view of the removal of HST (Aug. 28, North Shore News).
Call me naive, ignorant, or both, but I cannot understand what the doomsday fuss about the HST referendum is all about. In my humble opinion, everybody is allowed to earn money, but the losing side of the referendum wants me to believe they cannot make a living under the PST/GST tax system. Give me a break.
Before then-Premier Gordon Campbell made the (@!#$%) decision in 2009 to accept the $1.6-billion bribe from Ottawa and force the HST on B.C. taxpayers, the corporate and small-business sectors here were doing quite well - maybe not as well as with the HST, but not so badly that anybody was going to the poorhouse, so to speak (if anybody did, it was not because of the PST/GST).
It will cost money to switch back to the old system, but that should not be a problem; the savings from the adjustment to the corporate tax rate should pay for the change. All the taxes collected under the HST which have already been sent to Ottawa (and will continue to be sent to Ottawa until the return of the PST/GST) should pay for a large portion of the money we owe the federal government.
I hear some talk about tax reform in B.C. I have absolutely no problem with that; however, we should make the reform fair for everybody so that there is no repeat of the referendum. Remove that asinine rule, for instance, about whether a tax is payable or not depending on the colour of a life jacket.
Some companies might choose to move to Ontario, which presumably will greet them with open arms. I say: "Good riddance." If you think you cannot make any money here in B.C., you shouldn't be in business in the first place.
Personally, I would like to see all the good folks from Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland who have to pay HST in their home provinces come to visit us when we are back to normal. They will be able to enjoy an HST-free lifestyle in the "best place on earth" and give our tourism and restaurant industries a boost.
Mike Stichnoth North Vancouver
