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in his own words

British Columbia's HST fiasco

Did Finance Minister Kevin Falcon or any of the Liberals learn anything from the HST referendum?

Premier Christy Clark promised that the referendum would take place just like a normal election, but she then allowed third-party advertisements without disclosure. We'll never know how many millions were spent on trying to convince people to vote for the HST, but we know the government spent $7 million. It wasn't just the advertising campaign that failed any reasonable test of transparency; information provided by the government and its "independent panel" couldn't be verified. One of the lessons the Liberals should learn from their HST failure is that transparency is essential in order to earn public trust.

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Kevin Falcon HST gordon campbell christy clark british columbia anti-HST

Goodbye Campbell

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell on the radio during the 2009 B.C. election campaign. Photo: Stephen Dyrgas/Flickr
When general dislike becomes the issue...

Related rabble.ca story:

Goodbye Campbell
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HST gordon campbell british columbia basi-virk
for the sake of argument

Fuelling the tax revolt: What is wrong with the NDP's anti-HST campaign

The Canadian New Democratic Party (NDP) has devoted much of its energy in recent months to opposing the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario and British Columbia. The new taxes came into effect on July 1, 2010. The HST merges the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) in both provinces. Items covered by the GST that were previously exempt from the PST are included under the new HST.

Much of the Canadian left has been supportive of the anti-HST campaign on the grounds that consumption taxes are regressive (i.e. people pay the same rate of tax regardless of income).

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taxation Ontario HST Economics BC anti-HST
Opinion

Nova Scotia NDP's tax cuts lead to austerity budgeting

The NDP government of Nova Scotia inherited a structural deficit when they came to power in 2009. The only way out of that was substantial social spending cuts, or raising taxes. To their credit, at the time, the Dexter government chose to do both rather than the unvarnished neoliberal route of pure slashing. 

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Nova Scotia NDP HST darrell dexter Austerity

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Nova Scotia's NDP government at 18 months

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On the positive side, the long and bitter forest policy debate seems, remarkably, to be coming to an adequate conclusion. Clearcutting is to be reduced by half within five years, among other things. Environmentalists are happy.

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HST cut in Nova Scotia: Detracting from real debate about our future

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Since this government came into office in 2009, its mantra has been that the government of Nova Scotia needs to “live within its means.”
Christine Saulnier

HST cut in Nova Scotia: Detracting from real debate about our future

By Christine Saulnier
| April 6, 2012

The Nova Scotia government has just announced that it will cut the HST by one per cent next year and one per cent the following year. This cut will reverse the two per cent increase the government imposed in order to assist it to achieve a balanced budget. Increasing the HST was part of a four year plan to balance the budget, which included increasing taxes and cutting spending. Since this government came into office in 2009, its mantra has been that the government of Nova Scotia needs to “live within its means.” But this focus has detracted from the bigger questions we should focus on during budget time and all throughout a government’s mandate: what does and what should government do for Nova Scotians and how will it pay for what it needs to do?

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forum

Is Harper about to tax groceries or how I learned to stop eating

...read more
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Harper VAT Jack Mintz Canadian Conservative Party Jack Layton HST Taxing Groceries Income Tax Refore
Redeye
Redeye

B.C.'s regressive tax shift

November 6, 2011
| A recent report shows that the wealthy pay a lower overall provincial tax rate than the average citizen in B.C.

16:21 minutes (14.97 MB)
Columnists

Progressive public policy in the Ontario election

We will probably be parsing who won Tuesday's leaders' debate until provincial election day. But thank Ford, it looks like progressives have a good shot at winning, one way or another.

Hudak has lost momentum, and it certainly appears that the Liberals, alone or with the NDP, will form the next government and the NDP will likely double its seat count.

But as we head to the polls, the irony is that whenever lefties gather these days, someone asks whether it's the NDP or the Liberals who are the most progressive party running in this election.

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Ontario Politics Ontario election ontario government ondp NDP Andrea Horwath Dalton McGuinty party platform HST green energy tim hudak progressive vote

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Horwath wins Ontario debate: MSM miss the boat

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The mainstream media are telling us the Ontario election debate was a wash, with no clear winner. But a quick look at Ipsos-Reid's post-debate poll tells a different story.

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The Ontario NDP platform

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Pollsters tell us that Ontario's New Democrats may double their seat total in next month's provincial election. But what's actually in the party's election platform?

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Tim Hudak's troubled geometry

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The Ontario election is in full swing, and the Conservative party's campaign is guided by a platform booklet called the "changebook," an audacious manifesto for significant change in the province.
in his own words

Voters in B.C. reject HST regime promoted by big business

Voters in British Columbia delivered a slap in the face to big business interests by rejecting a consumption tax that would shift billions of dollars of taxes from corporations onto consumers. Fifty-four per cent of voters, 881,200, said "no" in a mail-in referendum ballot. The result was announced on Aug. 26.

The Harmonized Sales Tax provoked much protest after it morphed from a secretive federal/provincial government plan in 2008/09 into law on July 1, 2010. In the lead-up to the May 12, 2009 provincial election, the incumbent Liberal Party denied rumours that an HST was in the offing. Within weeks of its election victory, it announced a sudden and unforeseen change of heart.

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HST corporate tax cuts british columbia anti-HST

The real impact of HST's defeat on provincial finances

By Iglika Ivanova
| September 12, 2011

On Sept 8, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon released a much anticipated update on provincial finances.

The Minister's presentation focused on highlighting the cost of the move back to PST/GST, providing some large numbers for the media headlines, instead of looking at the big picture.

In case you missed the media coverage, the provincial coffers are projected to suffer a loss of $2.8 billion over the next three years, relative to the estimates presented in February's Budget 2011. The Ministry estimates that $2.3 billion of the loss is brought about by the HST defeat and the move back to the PST/GST system.

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