HST Backlash Continues Because of Deception, not Tax Itself

(Aired on July 2, 2010)

I paid the Harmonized Sales Tax for the first time this morning.  My extra-large mocha at Tim Horton's now sets me back to the tune of $2.60 - up about 15 cents from what it cost earlier this week.  It was mildly annoying, but on the other hand the world did not end, I paid the extra 15 cents and went on my way.

For most of us in the middle class, that's what the HST will always be - mildly annoying.  If you are in the upper income bracketm you may be more irritated than that - at least, that's dealing in stereotypes.  Low income people will be impacted the most, of course, but Premier Campbell and the provincial government would argue that those people get a juicy rebate.  And, in fact, that's the matrix the government is banking on for survival - that those less impacted will be less annoyed, and that the low income British Columbians can be bought with a rebate.

That's not playing out.  Backlash over the HST is stronger than many - including myself - ever thought it would be.  That's because, as I've said before, the tax itself is one thing.  Most of us know paying an extra 7% on 20% of goods and services will not break the bank.  On the other hand, there is little doubt that British Columbians are chafing over how the HST policy was announced and implemented.

They don't care that the HST is a consumption tax and thus supposedly more fair.  They don't care that business groups love it.  They don't care that it's a federally administered tax, and they don't care that the PST was abolished to bring it in.

They do care that the Liberal government signed on the dotted line just days after winning an election with a platform that did not include a major shift in tax policy.  And that may be enough to end Campbell's government.