Dear Editor:
No one who voted against the HST is anti-HST; we are anti-higher-taxes and unhappy with the Liberals.
The introduction of this tax showed just how out of touch the Liberal government is with B.C. citizens. Raising taxes right after a major economic collapse, when we were all struggling, was despicable. The harmonized tax created efficiencies that should have been passed on to taxpayers but were instead secretly pocketed as extra revenue.
We who voted against it knew that the HST would have been a better tax at 10 per cent, but there was no way any of us were going to trust the Liberals to lower it in 2014 as promised. Rather, it should have been lowered to 10 per cent immediately - where it should have been all along.
That single action would have swung the vote the other way.
Christy Clark has botched her first important test as premier. That mistake will now cost us $3 billion.
Unfortunately, the Liberals are still out of touch, because it is obvious that they think this vote was all about the HST. From the tone of Finance Minister Kevin Falcon's remarks after the vote, it is clear that his government is now planning to punish us with spending cuts - and likely by raising taxes in even more devious ways.
What do you expect from a party that is neither Liberal nor Conservative, just unprincipled and deceptive? I've always voted Liberal but no more.
Craig Farlinger
West Vancouver
