Philip,
Right from the very first day when the HST was proposed, I have acknowledged that the idea in itself was good, but the execution by Colin Hansen and the Liberals at the time was a complete failure. Given the nice fat subsidy that the federal government has proposed, I can overlook the Liberals' election promise to not introduce additional taxes to the province. To me at least, the biggest thing voters and residents are upset about is the lack of public consultation prior to the HST implementation. Details of the HST introduction were not only flawed, it was also a slap on the face on our democratic values.
Directly or indirectly, the backlash against Gordo and Liberals has more or less taught them a painful enough lesson. Economically, I see efficiencies in having the HST, and that is a major reason why I have never been against it ideologically. Execution-wise, I think the HST should be implemented so that it ends up taxing consumers by more or less the same amount as the GST/PST combination would, and that means the HST rate needs to be lower than 12%. Not becoming an economist or account, I don't know what that number should be, but 11% next summer and 10% in summer 2014 still seems too high.
As I was saying previously, regardless of whether we keep or scrap the HST, I think both proposals are poor. Much like yourself, my decision to support the HST or not is not about whether I can reap any benefits out of it. Rather, the question is -- which route would end up hurting the province and the residents less?
Reluctantly, I am leaning towards supporting the HST, but I am certainly still on the fence.
-Lik |
發表於 2011-5-25 12:00
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