B.C. residents circulating anti-HST petition
Posted July 1, 2010 1:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER, B.C. – The HST has taken effect in two provinces on July 1 – Ontario and British Columbia – but in the western province, a large petition is already being circulated to repeal the tax.
This Vancouver resident told the Canadian Press that he signed the petition, but other than that, he feels quite helpless.
“It’ll definitely effect you, in a negative way […] probably have less money to spend. Otherwise it seems like it’s inevitable, so I haven’t really gotten too angry about it anymore. I did what I could to stop it.”
B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen said there are a number of myths about the HST.
“Many people in the public are convinced that we need an explicit promise in the election campaign not to bring in the HST, and no such promise was ever made,” he said.
Unlike Ontario, B.C. is not applying the HST to energy items, including gasoline. The tax is also slightly lower than in Ontario, at 12 percent.
