Whmankeworldofwords's Blog

The question I ask myself is, “Who benefits and who loses?

It is obvious that big business does not lose with this tax or big business wouldn’t be for it in such a big way.  I don’t believe that big business will create  more jobs because of this tax.  Matter of fact, it will take their accounting departments less time to deal with the provincial sales taxes, and so each large company will likely lay off a few people.

What about small business?   People who run restaurants and businesses like it are against it.  They’ve been losing customers and therefore profits.  They don’t win with this tax.

What about working people?  The government says it will cost those people only a couple hundred dollars a year.  No big deal, right?  It is when it means Christmas presents or no Christmas presents for the two kids in the family.   Groups against the HST claim it is a lot higher than $200 per year.

For two different two week periods I kept track of what I paid in that portion of HST that the provincial government charges, and that they had not taxed with the GST.   The first two week period cost me an extra $34.27 and the second two week period cost me an extra $19.86.  I also calculated the extra cost of the six days of holidays we staid in B.C. on our way east.  That cost was just pennies short of $100.00.  So if I combine the weeks and say it cost me $54.07 per month and carry that forward for the 12 months of the year, it would cost me an extra $648.84.  Now add in the extra $100 for holidays, there goes $748.84 of my money.  Right?

No, there’s more bad news for me.  I didn’t calculate the amount of HST on gasoline and other items and where the tax is hidden like it is applied to the taxes on gasoline.  That’s right.  We pay taxes on the taxes added to fuel costs.  On a liter of gasoline we pay at least $0.35 in taxes and HST is added at on at the end to the total of gasoline costs and other taxes.  It’s a tax added on taxes.  Now on how many other products does that story repeat itself?  One thing is certain.  Just how much the HST costs us we can’t figure out exactly.  Let it be sufficient to say it is more than $500.00 per year for a couple, as in my case, and much more for a young family of four or five.

Now the question is, “How should I vote”?