So I'm doing research along the lines to see where I stand. So far I'm confused and don't think I get it all.

To keep it straight in my head here's how I see it.

HST =
- We pay 10% on everything
- Businesses get all 10% back for any purchases anually
- Families with kids get $100+ monthly just for having a kid
- Elderly earning under a certain amount will also get some sort of benefit.

GST&PST =
- Some items will be 12.5% GST+PST
- Some items will be 7% GST
- Businesses just get PST back anually
- Families earning under a certain amount will get GST Cheques

Big Ad selling point is lowering HST to 10% but the way I see it, that's still 3% more than I normally spend.

Businesses with HST are supposed to have lower prices because they get 10% back for their own purchases... But that won't be seen until the end of the year and really, what business will lower a price people are paying? Either way things go, businesses put prices up.


I want to vote to go back to GST/PST but only because I don't like how the Gov't just shoved it in place and is now hoping we are too lazy to make them put it back. Easier to ask for forgivness than permission?

I have a small business the way it works for me is I pay the hst on every invoice at the end of every month.
When I bill you I charge the hst on my invoice, every 3 months the government and I square up.
So I do an electrical job for $10,000 I bill you 10,000 x 12%= 11200
At the end of three months I add up all my wholesale invoices hst, then add up what I charged in hst to you the customer, I either send the government a cheque for the diffrence, or they send me a cheque for the diffrence.
Works very well.
I like it very simple.

But now lets look at the "old way"
10,000 bill
It used to be about 5500 material plus 7% pst =$385.
Gst was on 10000-385(pst)=9615x5%=480.75
Total tax then=865.75
Total tax now (if I take off the 385 old pst like every honest business is supposed to...rolls eyes)) 10000-385=9615x12% = $1153.80

Did your tax go up or down.

I can't help you with the grants they don't apply to me.

Lets go another step, I buy a boat for 50,000 the hst is 6000 as a private person I don't get any back .
Fair enough. 56000 please
Now lets say I want a new boat and Pur Nak wants my old boat, so we strike a deal you buy my boat for 30000 now you go down and want to register it.
That will be 3600 Mr. Pur Nak.
(pst 12% so I am told)
Why? Why should there be tax on it, wasn't it paid when the boat was built and sold the first time?

Thats what a consumer tax is. Every time that boat sells 12% please.
Thats what the hst is, a consumer tax.

As a business man I love it as a consumer no.

There are other pros and cons to it.
But remember this once the consumer is tapped out he won't buy as much the taxes collected go down, my business lays people off and a downward spiral begins.

Thats why they must have inflation, it keeps people buying think about it if some thing costs you 100 dollars today a year from now it costs you 103 dollars you'll buy now.
But what if it costs the same or even less next year, the economy slows because no one is spending.
Go to you tube watch the animated cartoon "The American Dream."
its half an hour long.
Go to you tube watch "The crash course" by Chris martenson its 15 or 16 chapters
Once you fully understand those 2 things most of whats going on will start to make sense.
Dan.

The HST is nothing more than a 2.2 Billion Tax Shift away from big business onto Joe Average and family which includes small business owners.
That's why they tried to ram it down our throats.

No matter how you slice it...THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS..................hp

man i really am on the fence on this and i usually can grasp these type of things very well, but i really am confused on what to think or do .....holmes*

its really frustrating being confused like this, its giving me a headache, arrrrgggg.... holmes*

As a small business I receive some benefit from the HST process. That being said, even lowering the HST to 10% will still hurt the consumer in the pocketbook as there a number of things now taxable that were previously exempt. Bottom line for me, as a consumer I don't like it, and as a small business, anything that takes more money out of my customers already over taxed pocket, means less money available to spend in my shop. And yes, big business loves it, as they are more insulated from local economies than those of us who live and work in this province.
If they lowered HST to 10% NOW and restored the exemptions NOW that we previously had with the PST, I would be in favour of a single tax, but this is a blatant tax grab - thumbs down.

Have to agree 100% Mi Chica my small business is really feeling it. I've been around 30 years.
People are really pulling back on their spending.
I had to move some stuff from the house this morning with my dad, we normally would go to the Butterdell resturant in Victoria and have breakfast, about 20 bucks.
My dad says N-F-Way we are paying 2.40 bucks in tax. So they lost 20 bucks in income through no fault of their own.

Its not hard Holmes, just do a spread sheet of what you buy, what you paid taxes on before and what you pay now.
That will tell you. Thats what I did it isn't lower, simple 5th grade math.
Keep in mind that they keep crowing about how BC has the lowest income tax rate.
Big deal.
How much is the TOTAL taxes being paid by us, thats the bottom line.
Think about it, property taxes, (up 35% in two years) HST, user fees, eco fees, carbon tax, income tax etc.
Go buy a battery, go buy a can of paint go buy some tires.
Oh yes that is eco fees sure does it cost what they charge?
It all ends up in the same place.
Add it up.
Look at it like this
The speed limit is 50 miles an hour,
I get pulled over by a cop
You were doing 100 miles an hour he says.
Yes officier I was, but I'm only driving for half an hour therefore I am only going 50 miles an hour.

They say they are going to reduce it to 10%
If you believe that you get what you deserve.
If they do they will jam you somewheres else.
Just do the math.
Dan.

Fisty Christie says the HST goes down to 10 per cent.

However....that won't be until 2014......that's 2014......as in 2014.

It is called a "TAX"....it is not a "revenue neutral" tax....there is no such thing.

It is designed to benefit BIG business.....not you and me.

The Liberals have, and always will, kiss big business ass at the expense of you and me.
Many of the Liberals will be on the board of directors of these corporations after they've served their term in office ...so it's important for them to butter the butts of the CEO's while they can.

It will not create jobs. Jobs have nothing to do with it.
The savings will not be passed on the the customer. Any savings will end up in the bank account of said companies that are entitled to it.

The GST was a marriage of federal sales tax to ordinary sales tax.
At the time, you didn't pay federal sales tax on many many items.

So they "harmonized" the FST, claiming that overall the tax rate would be lower.

BUL****T.


You pay more tax ever since the GST was implemented.

You will pay more tax if the HST is implemented.

It is a tax designed to raise more revenue than the current tax and that's the end of the story no matter what gobbledy-gook horsequacky they try and make you swallow.

Lying is part and parcel of all politics and the B.C. Liberals are masters at it.
Vote no to the HST.

Actually Sea Fever Vote....... YES........ to abolish the tax.
Watch how the wording works........
Dan