Sunday, May 2, 2010

THE HST BLUES



I saw one of those Captains of Industry wizards on the television news the other day confidently assuring me that, if only I were patient, if only I really understood how things work, I would come in time to love and embrace the HST.

His claim?

Manufacturers - all his pals, I guess - will save money and they will pass the savings on to stupid me and you, the consumers, with lower prices.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!


How a fool like this can stand up in public and with a straight face utter such a bald-faced lie and fantasy is beyond human understanding.

Of course, we are all familiar with all the prices of things rocketing downwards because the supplier saved a few bucks and wanted to share that with the public.

NOT.

The HST is a cruel scourge and everyone who opposes it is right to do so.

The silver lining?

It might be the political end of You Know Who.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

With HST and the new sketchy .05 BAC restaurants must be nervous.

Maybe Gordo will deal the death blow and raise the minimum wage to $10.

Or maybe hell will freeze over and peace will come to the middle east.
13

Mike MacDonald said...

I own a manufacturing company, typical I believe, with 1.5-3 million in sales a year over last 4 years, and 10-12 employees at any given time, in Delta...all probably typical for a small manufacturer...we make very automated machines primary for food, pharmaceutical, and plastics industries.

I had our bookkeeper spend a day exporting the last few years data and then using Excel making a figure that represents how those years would have been with HST instead of PST/GST.

We would have saved, oh yes indeed!
A whomping .3% to .5%. Not 3%, NOT 5%....POINT 3% or POINT 5%! Less than 1% savings from this huge change to my company, which will never offset the added tax on every-ones personal spending!

What savings am I going to pass on to our customers? I must now upgrade our accounting software, and be patient as our staff figure out the new rules...there is no savings David, you are 100% correct.

I was at a Langley City (where I live) open house and the local MLA Marry Polak commented strongly that there would be huge savings as manufactures could have HST rebated...

...I commented that manufactures are currently PST exempt and GST ITC rebated...so I asked where are the savings from?? Where? How?

Honestly David, she looked surprised and politely told me she has been assured there is a savings for manufactures...so I ask...anyone...where is this savings coming from, what am I missing?

Anonymous said...

Amazing pictures David. Two 'liars' and an abettor. Go figure and they have the audacity to keep bringing up fast ferries when they have literally sold OUR provincial assets out from underneath us. At least Clarke was trying to better the ferry system not pull off a phony 'sale' to pay for his 25% tax rebate. One wonder just what the payoff will be? Campbell (I allege) will get 'the gravy'. (Can you say corporate payoff for services rendered.) and Hansen if he is lucky will get the burned scraps from the bottom of the pan for not covering his bosses butt. I guess it wont be worth reporting any more DUIs in Hawaii AC (after Campbell).

Anonymous said...

When BC Ferries bought the new boats from Germany, they had to pay the GST on the purchase price.
The German manufacturer was able to lower their cost of materials through VAT credits from the German government.
Had the HST been in place at that time, there would have been a greater incentive to build the ferries in Canada, where the manufacturer could have received an HST credit for the cost of materials, thus lowering their cost of building the ferries.