Editor The News:
Re: Don’t be fooled by HST propaganda, rhetoric (Letters, July 1).
That the HST was badly implemented has been discussed and agreed on left, right and center.
However, that is now history, and if we still let our anger over that influence our decision making instead of researching all the facts, we and our children will live to regret it.
But don’t flatter yourself, Wayne Clark, by thinking that you can read my mind.
I readily admit that it is, as you say, “all in my head,” but that is because I have a brain in there that understands the advantage and long-term benefits of the one-tax HST system as opposed to the cumbersome and costly two-tax PST and GST system we used to have.
Furthermore, you are totally wrong in suggesting that I am being swayed by the propaganda and rhetoric, as you call it. I have been in favour of the HST from the beginning. In fact, long before the HST actually came into effect, I emailed the provincial government, telling them I agreed with it, but suggested making the new tax an even 10 per cent across the board with a minimum of exceptions.
Next comes your statement that you will still be paying $1,000 HST on your registered therapeutic massage, with the inference that you did so this year, as well.
Doing the math on that, it means that you are spending a staggering $8333.33 per year on this therapy. That is just too hard to believe. It gives the impression that you are fudging your figures, or else your’s must be an extreme case of fibromyalgia to warrant an average of two treatments per week, 52 weeks of the year.
Also, to suggest that “many people will be put in the street as their ability to borrow money runs out,” is absurd. Why borrow? Better to curtail our spending and look after our needs instead of our wants.
By the way, to suggest that I should offer to help Corisa Bell is laughable. You ought to know that my political outlook is as diametrically opposed to hers as it is to yours.
Walter Verwoerd
Maple Ridge
B.C. Liberals love Wall Street
Editor, The News:
Re: Tax my car, not my income (B.C. Views, June 15).
Tom Fletcher can nitpick all he wants about the proper identification of the government’s July 2010 tax increase on private vehicle sales.
As an alternative, maybe his beloved government should have considered rescinding the dealer tax on used vehicles.
Most people buy used cars and other used products because they can’t afford to buy new.
In reality, this is just another tax that hits those who can least afford it.
After slogging through all the statistics, graphs, and pie-charts concerning the HST, one thing struck me: the province raises 14 per cent of its money from the HST, 14 per cent from personal income taxes, and only four per cent from corporate income taxes.
The province spends 42 per cent of its revenues on health and 27 per cent on education.
Corporations benefit greatly from an educated and healthy workforce. It reduces their training costs, and unlike companies in the U.S., they don’t have to shell out huge amounts for heath insurance. That in itself provides a big cost advantage for B.C. companies.
So why aren’t these companies paying their fair share?
Over the years, our government has increasingly catered to the values of Wall Street and Madison Avenue. You know – those buzzing little stick people on TV. Now, if only it could rediscover Main Street.
Mike Divine
New Westminster
Am I wrong
Editor, The News:
Re: Do your homework on HST (The News, June 14).
Am I wrong in assuming that voting ‘No’ on the HST and keeping it will give Ottawa financial power to do as it wishes in giving provinces whatever transfer payments it pleases in the future?
No, I am not.
I think back, for example, on a part of the Trudeau era, when not one Liberal was elected from B.C., Alberta, or Saskatchewan and only two from Manitoba.
Given this scenario happening again with a government that is not as reasonable towards the west as the present one, can we in B.C. really consider the HST as being in our favor?
Would transfer payments be fair?
I think not.
Barry Bentley
Maple Ridge