The harmonized sales tax (HST) campaign is heating up with a war of words between supporters of the controversial tax and those who want to return to a system where there is a provincial sales tax (PST) and a goods and services tax (GST).
Finance Minister Kevin Falcon accused NDP leader Adrian Dix June 8 of “embarking on an Alice-in-Wonderland misinformation campaign by trying to convince British Columbians that 12 is less than 10,” Falcon said.
“Why he wants to make B.C. families pay a higher tax is beyond me,” Falcon said.
Dix made a high-profile appearance when he kicked off his Vote Yes campaign at modest family’s home in Burnaby June 7.
His campaign’s three main prongs are:
- the Liberals can’t be trusted, given how they foisted the tax on British Columbians without mentioning the idea in the 2009 election campaign;
- that even with the tax dropping to 10%, as promised, it still represents a $1.3 billion shift onto consumers; and
- that public services have been decreased since the tax was introduced.
Falcon, meanwhile, took aim at Dix’s claims that a two-income family with each parent earning $50,000 is paying more than $1,000 a year in extra tax under the HST.
Falcon said that’s incorrect and that under the “improved HST,” the average family will be $120 ahead.
Glen Korstrom
Twitter: Glen Korstrom