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Turning back the HST tide

British Columbian's have been able to take down the harmonized tax.

British Columbians who opposed the HST have something to be proud of, that's the fact that they’ve been able to muscle their way through the many barriers of the political system to take down the harmonized tax.

Whether the tax was good or bad, it was quite a feat to overturn.

The B.C. Liberals started on the wrong foot from the get go, from the introduction of the tax to the way they are now dealing with it’s exit.

It seems like there is an opportunity for them to set an example for other provinces who may try to follow suit.

The opportunity is to make sure British Columbians are penalized to to the maximum extent by agreeing to pay back the $1.6 billion in transitional funding from the federal government.

It would make sense to have to pay this if there was no transition that took place, but as it was, we are currently living in an HST British Columbia for a little while anyways.

If that money was used for other things than transitioning to HST, than maybe it should be paid back, but if funds for the transition were used in the process of chaining taxes, then they were used correctly and shouldn’t need repayment.

It’ll be interesting to see how easily we can go back to the old GST/PST system and if other provinces on the HST system will decide to follow B.C.’s lead.

If the federal government forgives the $1.6 billion that it is owed, then there isn’t much to stop them.

It’s just a matter of getting a group together that disagrees with the system in place and getting a couple hundred signatures.