Despite B.C. Liberal claims to the contrary, a report made by the premier’s own B.C. Progress Board five months before the election shows that the HST was definitely on the premier’s radar. It also shows that despite the B.C. Liberals' claims, the HST will hit low and middle income families the hardest.

Here is what the report said:

• The HST would be “mildly regressive,” driving up the cost of essential goods and services like rent, heat, and clothing.
• “In the short and medium term, lower-income British Columbians could see declines in real income as consumer prices rise.”
• “Moving from a tax on business inputs to a tax on consumer goods and services entails a substantial and highly visible shift of the tax burden from business to consumers, even if reduced input costs are eventually passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.”

The HST, like the premier’s cuts to health care, education, libraries, student aid, and seniors’ services, will hurt ordinary British Columbians the most. 

Carole James and the New Democrats have launched a petition to stop the HST, which is at https://www.bcndpcaucus.ca/en/StoptheHST

Under the Campbell government, B.C. has had the worst rate of full-time job losses, the second-worst performing economy, and the highest level of child poverty in the country.