B.C. votes to dump the HST

[bandaid]

Thoughts?

[North Shore]

I think that it was a good thing for the BC economy (although probably needed a little tweaking) However, the way in which it was introduced deserves this rebuke. Too bad (that lying liar) Campbell didn't have the stones to stay around and face an election on this.

[WileyCoyote]

I'm not so sure in my opinion, I mean the BC economy wasn't exactly stellar in the first place. Seems funny how it came about after the Olympics, hangover sales tax perhaps? I just found it mind boggling how the government rammed it through, while when I was living in Penticton there were signs on every street corner and petitions everywhere...

[robertsailor1]

It was a much better tax than the old PST but it was so poorly instituted. The uncertainty of how all these tax changes will effect different businesses will do nothing to help out on the economic front so it wouldn't surprise me to see us as a province sucking hind boob for awhile.

[Indanao]

I think that it was a good thing for the BC economy (although probably needed a little tweaking) However, the way in which it was introduced deserves this rebuke. Too bad (that lying liar) Campbell didn't have the stones to stay around and face an election on this.

That is why he was voted out of Office. Never saw him as a liar either - he is/was a good man. ( only bad thing he did was getting rid of Photo Radar. )

[crazy_aviator]

Me thinks the attitude of the high end power brokers goes along this line " Those little sheeple are either too ignorant and dumb or too emotional and shortsighted to understand what we great ones do to make this fine country/province/ town greater!! WHY tell the whole story to the people and let them decide? ,,, well the politicians do not think the masses can be trusted to do the right thing !!!!!

[robertsailor1]

Only because in most cases they are right. The masses are not all that brilliant in most cases.

[ahramin]

Me thinks the attitude of the high end power brokers goes along this line " Those little sheeple are either too ignorant and dumb or too emotional and shortsighted to understand what we great ones do to make this fine country/province/ town greater!! WHY tell the whole story to the people and let them decide? ,,, well the politicians do not think the masses can be trusted to do the right thing !!!!!

Obviously the little sheepies are too emotional and stupid. They voted to get rid of the HST because they didn't agree with the way it was brought in! Their government did something they don't like, so they punish themselves. The politicians still have their jobs so they don't care, the civil servants are happy as we now have to hire a boatload more in order to transition back to GST PST and run the PST.

The only people who lose by getting rid of the HST are the poor jerks paying taxes.

[bandaid]

Me thinks the attitude of the high end power brokers goes along this line " Those little sheeple are either too ignorant and dumb or too emotional and shortsighted to understand what we great ones do to make this fine country/province/ town greater!! WHY tell the whole story to the people and let them decide? ,,, well the politicians do not think the masses can be trusted to do the right thing !!!!!

Obviously the little sheepies are too emotional and stupid. They voted to get rid of the HST because they didn't agree with the way it was brought in! Their government did something they don't like, so they punish themselves. The politicians still have their jobs so they don't care, the civil servants are happy as we now have to hire a boatload more in order to transition back to GST PST and run the PST.

The only people who lose by getting rid of the HST are the poor jerks paying taxes.

I think you're mostly right except that this was probably more like the straw that broke the camels back. The Lieberals have been pulling a lot of bone head moves since they came into power and, up until the HST, had gotten away with them. The HST was a tax shift that the majority of people in the province didn't want to accept. This tax along with the BC Rail (and with the payout of $6million to the lead crooks in that deal to buy there silence), hydro and a few interferences in collective bargaining process, lead to what has happened. The funny thing is, the blame is being put, for the most part, on the "stupid" people for standing up for there rights. Campbell got his rewards for bringing it in without debate. Too bad the coward didn't stick around to wear the egg he deserves.

[tiggermoth]

That is why he was voted out of Office. Never saw him as a liar either - he is/was a good man. ( only bad thing he did was getting rid of Photo Radar. )

Pardon??? Voted out??? If by "voted out" you mean "resign and ran away with his tail between his legs" then you are correct. He was NOT voted out. In fact he was loudly proclaiming even right up to the end that he was right, and would stay. It was only when the heat of the HST petition and recall campaigns got too much that HE turned tail and RAN. Didn't even stick around for the ice cream and cake. Poof...there he was...GONE.

Unless of course you are being sarcastic, in which case ignore me

[Indanao]

That is why he was voted out of Office. Never saw him as a liar either - he is/was a good man. ( only bad thing he did was getting rid of Photo Radar. )

Pardon??? Voted out??? If by "voted out" you mean "resign and ran away with his tail between his legs" then you are correct. He was NOT voted out. In fact he was loudly proclaiming even right up to the end that he was right, and would stay. It was only when the heat of the HST petition and recall campaigns got too much that HE turned tail and RAN. Didn't even stick around for the ice cream and cake. Poof...there he was...GONE.

Unless of course you are being sarcastic, in which case ignore me

What I meant was Voted out by his Party. They put pressure on him to quit - so they might get re elected. That's how our system works,no? They choose their leader.
First it's Jack Layton, one of Canada's best Politicians, and the people who could never get elected dog catcher all gotta take a run at him upon his untimely demise. ( Makes them feel more important I suppose. ) Now, it's.....( Same thing. ) Just can't please em.....no wonder good people don't want to run for Politics.

Reminds me of an Old Joke. This fellow on a reserve walks into this nursing station with a match box. The nurse says what's that? He says, "Oh, it's a box of Indian Flees - here I'll show you." and starts to open the box. Nurse freaks and tells him," Don't you dare open that in here, we don't want flees in here." He says, " Oh no not these ones - these are Indian Flees. As soon as one of them tries to jump out and gets up too high, all the rest of them will reach up and pull it back down again."

[Indanao]

Actually, Gordon Campbell was not a Coward either. He quit to save the party from defeat at the polls. He would have won in his riding. The party would have lost. ( Just as an aside - he never brought in the HST. Feds did. )

Rant Over.

[altiplano]

Yeah... Gordo brought in the HST. If he didn't play ball with Ottawa, it never would have come in.

[Indanao]

Yeah... Gordo brought in the HST. If he didn't play ball with Ottawa, it never would have come in.

All the other provinces go it, doesn't matter who's balls they played with either.

[bandaid]

Yeah... Gordo brought in the HST. If he didn't play ball with Ottawa, it never would have come in.

All the other provinces go it, doesn't matter who's balls they played with either.

I think you need to do a little research, only 5 of the Provinces have HST.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_Canada

[Indanao]

If they chose to pay more Taxes - so be it. We had our chance, and next month you will complain about paying too much. lol....go figure.

[Indanao]

By Province: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_Canada

It has been debated about who pays more due to how many products are Taxed. No real conclusion has been reached. Left side of the country would have to be different.

[JakeYYZ]

This is historic. This is terrific. But, you know, I don't think the Liberal government has got the message. The public doesn't want the disturbingly young-looking Kevin Falcon to find the money somewhere else; it wants the government to CUT SPENDING!

This sounds so simple, but they hate it, they hate the idea. They love big government. Love it.
That's my take.

[Icebound]

This is historic. This is terrific.

..........

The public......................... wants the government to CUT SPENDING!

No they don't. They just don't want to pay for it, but still want.... and indeed NEED.... the services.

This is the model that destroyed California and it will destroy BC and any other jurisdiction intent on using it.

This isn't historic, and it isn't terrific. It is bullshit. There are good reasons why we use representative democracy. You elected a representative who is supposed to make decisions and laws which serve the best interests of the people.... which are not necessarily the same decisions and laws which the people think they WANT.


...

[JakeYYZ]

In principle, the HST makes sense, but the execution was badly, badly handled. If they had a clue they would have introduced the HST with a lower combined rate to partially offset the application of PST to previously exempt goods and services. Sneaking in taxes right after an election without talking about it during the election is an insult to voters. The HST was a tax grab, plain and simple. The fact is to spend too much money then demand a way to pay for it after the fact is in essence a loss of liberty for all people in BC. No one voted for higher taxes. My advice to Premier High-School Cheerleader and her fellow socialists is "hey Champ, if your revenues are going down, how about cutting government expenditures by the same amount?"

[bandaid]

An interesting read. I found the comments to be the most interesting.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/08/30/HS ... m-Lessons/

[Geko]

Seriously my biggest pet peeve is played out whenever there is a discussion regarding the HST.