Horgan suggests the B.C. Liberals might bring back the harmonized sales tax. “British Columbians won’t be fooled again,” he says. But Liberal Leader Christy Clark says there’s no way B.C. will revive the HST
But Clark says that won’t happen, cites plans to freeze income and carbon taxes
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s New Democrats are accusing the Liberals of planning to bring back the divisive harmonized sales tax, raising the spectre of a tumultuous time for Christy Clark’s party.
NDP Leader John Horgan campaigned Wednesday in Cazba, a Persian restaurant in North Vancouver, where owner Nader Sigari said he was worried about the prospect of a new value-added tax.
Sigari said his business was harmed in 2010 after the Liberals introduced the HST, which combined the five per cent GST with a seven per cent provincial tax and applied to restaurant meals.
“I clearly noticed the number of my customers going down,” he said. “When I asked them, they said: ‘When we have to pay 12 per cent tax and almost 15 per cent for a tip, we can’t afford to frequently come like we did before.’
“I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Clark has said that under no circumstances will B.C. end up with another HST.
Before the 2009 election campaign, the Liberals said they wouldn’t bring in the HST, so its introduction was controversial and ultimately led former premier Gordon Campbell to resign.
The tax was repealed after residents voted against it in a referendum. The anti-HST campaign was led by former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm.
A panel of business leaders has recommended that the province adopt a value-added tax, which would allow manufacturing companies to pay a one-time tax rather than paying provincial sales tax multiple times throughout the production process.
The panel suggested a lower value-added tax for restaurant meals compared with other goods, suggesting 2.5 per cent as a possible rate. Customers now pay five per cent GST when they eat out, so that would bring the total tax to 7.5 per cent.
Clark initially said she was prepared to talk to the business community about the proposal, but on Wednesday she was adamantly against the idea.
“No. No, John Horgan. No, we are not bringing in a value-added tax,” she said while campaigning at Grey Monk Estate Winery in the Okanagan.
“We are not bringing in an HST or a value-added tax. We are freezing personal income taxes. We are freezing the carbon tax,” Clark said.
But Horgan questioned why B.C. residents should trust Clark this time, given the Liberals’ denials on the HST during the 2009 election campaign.
“British Columbians won’t be fooled again,” Horgan said.