BC Premier Christy Clark in her Vancouver office April 13, 2011.JOHN LEHMANN
Premier Christy Clark is promising to lighten the burden of the harmonized sale tax, dangling the possibility of rebates, exemptions - or even a cut to the rate.
Ms. Clark's move comes after a government-commissioned report concluded that the tax is a cash cow for the province, and that the average B.C. family will pay $350 more a year in sales taxes since the HST was enacted in 2010.
"That might be one of the things we might be able to address when we talk about the HST and we come up with some ways to mitigate some of the impacts of the HST," Ms. Clark said.
Asked pointedly about lowering the $350 for an average family, Ms. Clark said the government has been consulting with the public and hearing from voters who would like it to find ways to do that.
Suggestions, she said, include dropping the tax by "a point or two points," or mitigating the impact specifically for families, first-time homebuyers, or - as she put it - "people who are riding bicycles."
"There are a lot of different proposals people have come up with. At the moment, I don't want to prejudge the outcome of that, so we're collecting all the information from people getting citizens' advice and we'll put together what we think is a reasonable and affordable package of ways to try and fix that."
The report, by a four-member panel appointed by the government, found that the tax will bring only a modest benefit to the B.C. economy, is far from revenue-neutral and won't necessarily create the 113,000 new jobs hoped for.
The members of the panel were former Alberta treasurer Jim Dinning, former auditor-general George Morfitt, economist John Richards and Tracy Redies, president and CEO of Coast Capital Savings Credit Union.
They also found the tax is adding hundreds of millions to provincial coffers - an accounting that stands in contrast to government suggestions that HST revenue would be balanced by rebates and tax breaks.
Ms. Clark said the report clearly indicates "there are lots of issues with the HST," though she still believes the tax will work in terms of creating jobs in the province.
She and Finance Minister Kevin Falcon have said they are looking for public ideas on managing the tax, and will put some selected measures up for consideration in the mail-in referendum on the tax to be held this summer.
Without specifically invoking his name, Ms. Clark cast that approach against the tactics of her predecessor, Gordon Campbell.
"One of the things that we are doing as a government that I think is different, that government didn't do before, is that we're listening to British Columbians, recognizing there are things people want to fix about the HST," she said.
Asked about the Premier's comments, B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix said the government seemed "clearly desperate" by proposing to mitigate the impact of the HST.
"It's disingenuous because, on this issue, the government has precious little credibility to dangle," he said.
"Of course, she is trying this. She's a few days before a by-election and they're doing everything they can to get votes," he said, referring to the May 11 vote in Vancouver-Point Grey where the Premier is running to get a seat in the B.C. Legislature.
"Their actions from day one have been unprincipled, and the public can't trust them."
Ian Bailey