Editor, The News:
While reading the news release from the Canada Revenue Agency regarding the termination of the HST and the return to the PST/GST system, including the roll back of personal tax exemptions to 2010 levels, I noticed the government of B.C. had legislated this. The premier cancelled the fall session of the legislature, so I wrote a letter to her and Mike De Jong, minister of finance, wondering how they had done this.
Here is their response: “As part of HST implementation, the basic personal amount tax credit was increased from $9,373 to $11,000 in 2010. As a result of the HST referendum, the government will reverse this enhancement with the re-implementation of the PST on April 1, 2013. The revised credit amount will be set at $9,373, plus any inflation indexing that has occurred since 2009.”
So they are decreasing our exemptions by $1,700 and not returning the HST they have been collecting from each and every one of us for the past three years.
All without going to work in Victoria. Boy, these guys are tricky. That sure sounds like a tax windfall for them, doesn’t it?
Cheryl Baron
Maple Ridge