HST Sold, but not Bought

(Aired on April 30, 2010)

If you felt a mysterious force pulling at your wallet today, you should probably know that Colin Hansen was in town.  The B.C. finance minister really does make a compelling argument for the Harmonized Sales Tax.  He says the gamut of costs that businesses will save is almost as long as the list of items that will be subject to the full HST.

Hansen's problem is that he was in the wrong room.  Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon will hardly give him any skeptics to sway.  If Bill Vander Zalm can mobilize an army of volunteers to oppose the tax, then the provincial government should be able to organize some semblance of a counter campaign.  Instead, they have an ill-advertised website and leave it up to government MLAs to sell.  Hansen seems a bit like a one-man band, and he needs to mobilize the Liberal faithful if really believes that the anti-HST campaign is spreading misinformation.

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As I say, Hansen makes a decent argument, but he hasn't convinced me quite yet.  Why?  Because the benefits to the people of this province are all contingent on businesses passing on their savings to consumers.  That's something they have little-to-no incentive to do.  I am still extremely skeptical that prices for goods and services subject to the HST won't stay exactly where they are, giving businesses higher profit margins.  I'm not signing my name on any petition, but i'm not drinking the Colin Hansen Kool-aid yet either.