It's time to talk about the "embarrassing" PST, according to the BC Chamber of Commerce.
"This tax stunts business growth in B.C., scares away Canadian or international businesses that might come grow jobs here, and mires everybody in red tape and nonsensical rules," said John Winter, president and CEO of the BC Chamber.
"Frankly, it's an embarrassing tax."
The organization wants the provincial government to make PST reform a priority, and is calling on the B.C. government to consider creating a made-in-B.C. value-added tax (VAT).
The BC Chamber also wants the government to put in place the following short-term PST fixes:
- widen PST exemptions on investment in machinery and equipment, to enable B.C. businesses to invest in needed technologies and equipment to remain competitive; and
- continue administrative improvements to the PST.
The organization is also concerned that B.C. is losing out to other jurisdictions that have adopted the HST, like Ontario, and Alberta, which currently has no provincial sales tax.
B.C.'s harmonized sales tax (HST), a type of VAT, was introduced in 2009. Most business groups were in favour of the HST, a less complicated tax that was intended to reduce administration costs for businesses.
But consumers, who saw the HST applied to items such as restaurant meals that had previously been exempt from the PST, were less enamoured of the tax. B.C. residents voted against the HST in a historic 2011 referendum.
The PST was reintroduced on April 1, 2013.
