EDITOR,
I read the letter from Julie Malcolm regarding the HST ("Theatre of the absurd," The Chief, July 15). I respect where she's coming from, but I also would like to say "welcome to the party."
I have a (very) small business that had the distinct honour of being singled out amongst a group of services the PST actually applied to. So while my counterparts in the hair cutting and accounting professions and so on only had to charge one tax, in most situations I had to charge two. That's two taxes to sweat over, two sets of paperwork to deal with, two sets of auditors to be afraid of, two cheques to clear every three months. And the PST people were just awesome to deal with too (not).
I take issue with the idea that a 10 per cent HST is "exorbitant." Britain's VAT (equivalent of HST) is 20 per cent (!!). Europe requires of member states a minimum of 15 per cent on most things, with no less than 5 per cent on some items such as food. Sweden - these days the gold standard of the Canadian left - is 25 per cent (!!!) on most items including haircuts and restaurants, and 12 per cent for groceries. 10 per cent on everything is "exorbitant?" I'll take that deal any day!
Maybe there's more to that whole "British California" joke people make about B.C. We've become a lot like our southern cousins - demanding ever more services and then vetoing the politicians' attempts to pay for them. And we keep repeating this even as the ship sinks. We want our services, but we want that mythical "someone else" to pay for them.
As I said in a previous letter, one way or another, you will have to pay. Please don't vote to put another burden on us small business owners. If you must fight, fine - fight to get the HST as low as possible. But please leave PST in its grave. It was a nasty Frankenstein of a tax while it lived and I would sure hate to see what a year's rot has done to its complexion. And for Pete's sake, if you want public services, please also be willing to pay for them.
Brad Hodge
Brackendale
