HST referendum results in B.C.

[Stompin Tom]

Oh ya, I recently drove from PG to Grande Prairie and bought a set of Toyo Open Country M/T tires for my truck and a Browning 300WSM Composite Stalker rifle and a pile of ammunition. With the fuel I used there and back and the price difference including way less tax, I got a trip to GP and ended up with $150.00 cash in my pocket.

Thanks Alberta!!!

I call BS.

Creative math at its best. You dont try to shop in BC? What, you pay full retail? I travel the north quite a bit, I buy tires, I buy many other things, I check prices, if you saved that much, you dont shop very well at home. Grande Prairie doesn't offer much in savings as compared to the PG area. As for the tax, you saved 7%, good for you. Spend you money in Alberta, enjoy the benefits the rest of use pay for in BC. Glad your a neighbor.

 

[glengine]

The HST was nothing more than a tax increase and a tax shift from business to the consumer. The 1.6 billion dollars that the BC gov't has to give back to the feds is money that the feds gave the BC gov't to implement the HST in BC. Therefore it's not costing the BC taxpayer anything. Simple really!

Funny thing is there were no cries from business about the GST/PST prior to the HST being rammed down our throats by the LIEberals. Now that it's been defeated and the tax burden has been returned to where it rightfully belongs, the whining is incredible. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. LMFAO!!!

Oh ya, I recently drove from PG to Grande Prairie and bought a set of Toyo Open Country M/T tires for my truck and a Browning 300WSM Composite Stalker rifle and a pile of ammunition. With the fuel I used there and back and the price difference including way less tax, I got a trip to GP and ended up with $150.00 cash in my pocket.

Thanks Alberta!!!

I would love to know how you figure it wont cost anything to go back to the two tax system?? The money the feds gave to the province was already put into programs and such, Meaning it's been spent. Oh yah and all the people that the prov is going to have to hire to deal with the Pst. Maybe you have been hiding under a rock havnt heard any of the things that the finance minister has said, he stated straight up that they will continue to runa balanced budget and they are going to have to make cuts somewhere or generate more revenus from somewhere. Gee that sure sounds lika tax hike to me.. If the Hst had stayed it was going to get lower by 2% for starters and they said that they were also going to look at amending the list of things that the tax was put on. But it's like there have been people that thought oh they charged hst on something that didn't charge pst on before but once they actually looked into it they found out that they were wrong.. And like i said before i guess all the economists must've been wronf when they said that the HST was good for the province.

BUT i do beleive that the way it was brought in was not correct and i feel that that is the biggest cause for people voting the way that it went. ALOT of people dont have alot of knowledge of how the tax systems truely differ. And they voted with emotion rather knowledge because they were still pi$$ed about how it was brought in. I think we would've been leaps and bounds ahead with the "new" revised hst than taking steps backwards to the two tax system.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[eclipse1966]

I would love to know how you figure it wont cost anything to go back to the two tax system?? The money the feds gave to the province was already put into programs and such, Meaning it's been spent. Oh yah and all the people that the prov is going to have to hire to deal with the Pst. Maybe you have been hiding under a rock havnt heard any of the things that the finance minister has said, he stated straight up that they will continue to runa balanced budget and they are going to have to make cuts somewhere or generate more revenus from somewhere. Gee that sure sounds lika tax hike to me.. If the Hst had stayed it was going to get lower by 2% for starters and they said that they were also going to look at amending the list of things that the tax was put on. But it's like there have been people that thought oh they charged hst on something that didn't charge pst on before but once they actually looked into it they found out that they were wrong.. And like i said before i guess all the economists must've been wronf when they said that the HST was good for the province.

BUT i do beleive that the way it was brought in was not correct and i feel that that is the biggest cause for people voting the way that it went. ALOT of people dont have alot of knowledge of how the tax systems truely differ. And they voted with emotion rather knowledge because they were still pi$$ed about how it was brought in. I think we would've been leaps and bounds ahead with the "new" revised hst than taking steps backwards to the two tax system.

Just my 2 cents.

good comment! I think everyone got brain washed by good old Bill Vander Zalm the biggest crook this province has ever seen. It amazes me how people forget what a scam artist this guy was. Anyway, I have read a fair bit on the difference of these two taxes and it is true the immediate benefits of the HST had not been realized by most as it takes up to 5 years. In the long run though this was going to be a better tax system. Now the government has to hire 300 more people to manage the PST/GST tax. Lets say the avg salary at $50 grand that would be $15 million on the government pay roll and we have to pay for it! Not to mention these sharks breathing down our necks. A few years back I was audited 4 times in 20 month period that costed me about $6,000 as my accountant has to get involved and book keeper. All they found was $660.00 needed to be paid back.

 

[jbb]

so they said in the beginning that the hst couldnt be scraped for 3 yrs! its been in place for 13 months and now there saying it will take min 18 months to get rid of. so by the math isnt that the 3yr time span? hst was good for bussiness and by the responces on here, we have a lot of bussiness members. now go ask fixed income ppl how the tax effected them. personally i can afford the tax, but seniors and social assisted income ppl couldnt.

 

[jbb]

and if they wanted the hst pill to be swallowed easier they should of made it 10% right from the start and we probably wouldnt have had to waste all these tax payer dollars.

 

[eclipse1966]

so they said in the beginning that the hst couldnt be scraped for 3 yrs! its been in place for 13 months and now there saying it will take min 18 months to get rid of. so by the math isnt that the 3yr time span? hst was good for bussiness and by the responces on here, we have a lot of bussiness members. now go ask fixed income ppl how the tax effected them. personally i can afford the tax, but seniors and social assisted income ppl couldnt.

I dont see a lot of low income people complaining about the GST cheques they got from the government. I did not get one. Just saying

 

[jbb]

havent seen one in my mail in many moons either. question for ya? you own a bussiness. when hst came in did you hire extra staff and give raises?

 

[glengine]

The reports that the govt was saying is that when the HST rebate cheques started to come out whicj would've been this year becasue it is based the previous "tax" year that the cheques going out would've actually been more than the previous gst ones were. I havnt received a gst cheque myself in years. We didn't hire extra staff or give out raises but it did allow us to lower a few of our prices but also allowed for the bussiness to do "extra" things persay for employee's as appreciation.

 

[jbb]

from what most of have seen it wasnt the hst that helped lower prices it was a strong canadian dollar this year. 99% of bussiness owners pocketed the savings of the hst and did not hiring extra staff or giving raises. which was the liberals big push. ask any waitress if they recieved raises. ask them if hst cost them tip money that they rely on. i have yet to hear anyone say they got raises or there was extra staff hired because of hst.

 

[eclipse1966]

havent seen one in my mail in many moons either. question for ya? you own a bussiness. when hst came in did you hire extra staff and give raises?

I do own my own business but the funny thing is that GST/PST and/or HST dont play too much of an issue for my company as I we are an export company hence exempt. But I actually did pay some nice bonuses this year and looks like more will be paid next year too. I did not hire any more people.

 

[Pinner]

I would love to know how you figure it wont cost anything to go back to the two tax system?? The money the feds gave to the province was already put into programs and such, Meaning it's been spent. Oh yah and all the people that the prov is going to have to hire to deal with the Pst. Maybe you have been hiding under a rock havnt heard any of the things that the finance minister has said, he stated straight up that they will continue to runa balanced budget and they are going to have to make cuts somewhere or generate more revenus from somewhere. Gee that sure sounds lika tax hike to me.. If the Hst had stayed it was going to get lower by 2% for starters and they said that they were also going to look at amending the list of things that the tax was put on. But it's like there have been people that thought oh they charged hst on something that didn't charge pst on before but once they actually looked into it they found out that they were wrong.. And like i said before i guess all the economists must've been wronf when they said that the HST was good for the province.

BUT i do beleive that the way it was brought in was not correct and i feel that that is the biggest cause for people voting the way that it went. ALOT of people dont have alot of knowledge of how the tax systems truely differ. And they voted with emotion rather knowledge because they were still pi$$ed about how it was brought in. I think we would've been leaps and bounds ahead with the "new" revised hst than taking steps backwards to the two tax system.

Just my 2 cents.

Awesome post...I've been too tired to write my own, thanks.

 

[Stompin Tom]

now go ask fixed income ppl how the tax effected them. personally i can afford the tax, but seniors and social assisted income ppl couldnt.

It is a PROVEN fact that people on fixed income actually saved money with the HST. They can not spend enough FIXED income to accure HST spent that is above the amount of rebate cheque's they have received. Remember, the HST rebates were sliding, the less you made, the more you got.

Once again a case of half truths and down right lies against the HST that the uneducated spread as propoganda.

 

[Stompin Tom]

I would love to know how you figure it wont cost anything to go back to the two tax system?? The money the feds gave to the province was already put into programs and such, Meaning it's been spent. Oh yah and all the people that the prov is going to have to hire to deal with the Pst. Maybe you have been hiding under a rock havnt heard any of the things that the finance minister has said, he stated straight up that they will continue to runa balanced budget and they are going to have to make cuts somewhere or generate more revenus from somewhere. Gee that sure sounds lika tax hike to me.. If the Hst had stayed it was going to get lower by 2% for starters and they said that they were also going to look at amending the list of things that the tax was put on. But it's like there have been people that thought oh they charged hst on something that didn't charge pst on before but once they actually looked into it they found out that they were wrong.. And like i said before i guess all the economists must've been wronf when they said that the HST was good for the province.

BUT i do beleive that the way it was brought in was not correct and i feel that that is the biggest cause for people voting the way that it went. ALOT of people dont have alot of knowledge of how the tax systems truely differ. And they voted with emotion rather knowledge because they were still pi$$ed about how it was brought in. I think we would've been leaps and bounds ahead with the "new" revised hst than taking steps backwards to the two tax system.

Just my 2 cents.

Just to add to your points, the anti HST crowd (Vanderzalm) never bothered to mention the savings the Provincial government had by eliminating the entire PST system, I dont know the exact number, but they were able to lay off a pile of tax collectors and remove a huge amount of red tape. Now the Provincial government has to go out and recreate a whole new department, rehire countless numbers of tax collectors and implement the entire system. Anybody got a figure on what that is going to cost?

 

[btcowboy]

Just to add to your points, the anti HST crowd (Vanderzalm) never bothered to mention the savings the Provincial government had by eliminating the entire PST system, I dont know the exact number, but they were able to lay off a pile of tax collectors and remove a huge amount of red tape. Now the Provincial government has to go out and recreate a whole new department, rehire countless numbers of tax collectors and implement the entire system. Anybody got a figure on what that is going to cost?

Well said

 

[eclipse1966]

Just to add to your points, the anti HST crowd (Vanderzalm) never bothered to mention the savings the Provincial government had by eliminating the entire PST system, I dont know the exact number, but they were able to lay off a pile of tax collectors and remove a huge amount of red tape. Now the Provincial government has to go out and recreate a whole new department, rehire countless numbers of tax collectors and implement the entire system. Anybody got a figure on what that is going to cost?

safe to say it will cost millions and Vanderzalm and the large number of seniors who primarily voted to scrap the HST wont have to pay as they are already collecting their pension. Wonder if I will have a government pension to collect in 20 years but that is for another thread

 

[Riverjet]

I call BS.

Creative math at its best. You dont try to shop in BC? What, you pay full retail? I travel the north quite a bit, I buy tires, I buy many other things, I check prices, if you saved that much, you dont shop very well at home. Grande Prairie doesn't offer much in savings as compared to the PG area. As for the tax, you saved 7%, good for you. Spend you money in Alberta, enjoy the benefits the rest of use pay for in BC. Glad your a neighbor.

Call all the BS you want, it's a free country. Were you involved in my shopping? Do you know what prices I was quoted? You know squat!

"Spend you money in Alberta, enjoy the benefits the rest of use pay for in BC."

Is that hillbilly talk there?

 

[Stompin Tom]

Call all the BS you want, it's a free country. Were you involved in my shopping? Do you know what prices I was quoted? You know squat!

I know that I travel the Grande Prairie region allot, there are little to no savings to be had for the most part. The economy is strong there and prices reflect that.

 

[Riverjet]

I would love to know how you figure it wont cost anything to go back to the two tax system?? The money the feds gave to the province was already put into programs and such, Meaning it's been spent. Oh yah and all the people that the prov is going to have to hire to deal with the Pst. Maybe you have been hiding under a rock havnt heard any of the things that the finance minister has said, he stated straight up that they will continue to runa balanced budget and they are going to have to make cuts somewhere or generate more revenus from somewhere. Gee that sure sounds lika tax hike to me.. If the Hst had stayed it was going to get lower by 2% for starters and they said that they were also going to look at amending the list of things that the tax was put on. But it's like there have been people that thought oh they charged hst on something that didn't charge pst on before but once they actually looked into it they found out that they were wrong.. And like i said before i guess all the economists must've been wronf when they said that the HST was good for the province.

BUT i do beleive that the way it was brought in was not correct and i feel that that is the biggest cause for people voting the way that it went. ALOT of people dont have alot of knowledge of how the tax systems truely differ. And they voted with emotion rather knowledge because they were still pi$$ed about how it was brought in. I think we would've been leaps and bounds ahead with the "new" revised hst than taking steps backwards to the two tax system.

Just my 2 cents.

The money was going to be spent whether they got it from Ottawa or the BC taxpayer anyhow! All we will be doing is paying back the money the Lieberals owe the feds.

 

[Riverjet]

Call all the BS you want, it's a free country. Were you involved in my shopping? Do you know what prices I was quoted? You know squat!

I know that I travel the Grande Prairie region allot, there are little to no savings to be had for the most part. The economy is strong there and prices reflect that.

Tires here in PG $1350. Tires from the same company in GP $1100, quoted over the phone, another $100 off when I got there!

 

[btcowboy]

Riverjet, How far is it from PG to GP? 500-600KM one way? Why would you drive that far for 150 dollar savings? That means your time is worth what? 12.50....... Why not support your local economy in BC.