HST gets thumbs-up from economic council HST, council, economic, gets

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HST gets thumbs-up from economic council
BC's Finance Minister feels some of the anger over the HST is fading away
News1130 Staff Dec 11, 2010 05:00:18 AM
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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - It's not dead yet.  The Harmonized Sales Tax is getting a thumbs-up from a blue ribbon panel which provides financial advice to the province ahead of each year's budget.

BC's Finance Minister says the tax factored into his discussions with the Economic Forecast Council.
Colin Hansen says they support the HST because they consider it a better tax than the old system it replaced.

As for the impact of the referendum on the economy, "There's been some speculation for example in the media that the uncertainty leading up to the referendum would have a negative impact on the economy. That was not the consensus of the Economic Forecast Council."

Hansen adds that next week, the province will be releasing some polling results commissioned by the HST office.  "What those polling results will show is there's a real desire by the public to get more information about it."

Hansen says based on the evaluation of that data, nobody should assume the HST will get defeated on referendum day.