Dear Editor:
The plain and simple of the unfair HST of the very conservative "Liberal" party is that it raised the cost of nearly everything.
The government received a jolt when so many said they did not want it but for the sake of vagueness they said, "OK, let's have a vote," not wanting to believe that so many were enough. This delay of course had a risk they might not win so as bit of a sop they said we will lower the rate of taxation but not now. We'll catch you later. After the vote. Quite a bit later, if we get around to it, and who knows, there could be a monkey wrench in the works, like an election, throwing everything out of sorts.
In case anyone was having doubts about what they were voting for, we were told to compare one form of flat tax with another and the referendum was worded in a very convoluted manner, quite frankly, just to confuse. We all need to understand that the HST, as it stands, puts the price of everything higher and there is no certainty that will ever change.
This government, like the federal one, needs to understand that all sales taxes need to be eliminated, freeing everybody from this unfair and costly nuisance and revenue needs to come not from fees but from income tax.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with revenue coming from railways and airlines if we still owned them.
In case anyone was thinking about the cost of a reroute of taxes they ought to remember that the $1.6 billion of our taxes was already rerouted, we were told, in order to pay for the transition from GST to HST. Surely everyone understands that the change has happened and been paid for with already collected tax money and having given away the store there is no sign of any change for some years hence.
Terry Smith, Garibaldi Highlands
