Yep - the Consumer Gets it Again

The cartoonist John Pritchett just HAD to be thinking of BC residents when he did this one. Just announced: the BC government is going to harmonize the PST with the GST.

I admit, on the surface of it, not seemingly the most important of current events topics. But it does mean that a tax of 12% will now be charged on everything that the current federal GST is charged on. Consumers will get hosed again. Prices will go up. Sure, sure, businesses will be able to claim back their input taxes, and, in theory, that should reduce their costs and should, in theory, reduce prices on at least some things, but don't count on it.

The real issue, in my mind, is that this is just another in a series of LIES and MISREPRESENTATIONS that the Campbell Government has foisted on BC residents. Just to itemize a couple: 1) Before the election, the economy was doing just fine. Better than most, in fact. After the election, news leaks out that BC is actually in next-to-last place. The provincial economy is in a shambles. 2) No provincial deficit. But that was "before" the election. Now it's going to be millions and millions in the hole. 3) No word of this tax increase called harmonization before the election. It springs up now. They claim there was no plan to bring this in until just, oh, yesterday or the day before. 4) E-mails concerning the takeover of BC Rail were destroyed just before (or was that during?) the election. Wouldn't want that information leaking out now. And this is the government that tried to illegally muzzle opposition advertising during the election and the one that is selling BC resources for private profit.

This government obviously thinks that it can get away with doing and saying anything it wants. The sad thing is that voter response in the last election could mean that they are right. At least I didn't vote for the bastards.