Great Canadian myths,Sasquatch,Oogo Pogo,Revenue Neutral HST tax

I have tried to listen to all sides of the HST debate,good,bad or indifferent and my mind is made up,the tax is bad..........

Here are some things which I have considered which have not been answered by any pundits or government voices.

Quebec has had the HST for years along with Atlantic Canada,have either Quebec or New Foundland been stealing or wooing corporate Canada to leave Ontario for these provinces,NO.....are the HST provinces in better fiscal shape,no,in fact the new NDP government in NovaScotia after examining the financial books have come to the conclusion that the out-going provincial Conservative government had literally cooked the books,hidden debt,bigger deficit and unsubstantiated revenue forecasts..... read the story here ...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090817/ns_money_090817/20090817?hub=Canada

So apparently when the economy is down in Canada it has no bearing as to who has HST or not,the world factors such as exports or world prices are the driving force........

As a country we have distinct differences from province to province,for example Ontario can`t compete with offshore oil investment on the east coast or tar-sand development in Alberta,Ontario can`t compete with BC`s big trees heading south,or our natural gas,or even BC mines,ore prices,gas prices are determined by various exchanges outside of Canada,BC mining companies are shipping coal and ores to Asia,well the last time I looked at a map I didn`t notice any seaports from Ontario with access to Asia.......

So for any mining or smelting operations to move to Ontario from BC only to ship the product back to BC is ridiculous,a few flow through taxes wouldn`t come close to covering the extra freight charges,and the same goes to BC,we have very little manufacturing in BC,that`s Ontario`s game,there is a huge American population base within miles of the major Ontario manufacturing centers and BC isn`t getting into building car factories!

Now I have been hearing the spin about embedded tax,I don`t know when the last time Colin Hansen or gordon Campbell shopped at Wallmart or Future shop or even Ikea........All electronics are made in Asia,clothes,housewares, furniture........the things people buy everyday are for the most part not made in Canada,therefor there is no embedded PST.....From ship to truck to shelf .....Raw resources leaving the province have no PST,the majority of BC maufacturers in BC use PST exemptions on new equipment,on most products bought for the manufacturing process so again there is no embedded PST......Small and big business have the ability to write off business expenses,even if businesses lose money one year they can write off losses onto future earnings........

Now Hansen talks about the labour intensive activity for small business to collect the PST,well they are still going to have to collect the HST and submit,from my small business experience it`s merely numbers on a ledger sheet,I don`t see where they save any money,and small business once they`re set up have next to nothing in flow throughs and again they can write off envelopes,pens,paper,new computer so where is the flow through? Now Hansen talks about small business saving 100 million a year in administration savings,I doubt the numbers and if you divided amongst all the small businesses it would be like 700.00$ per year...Not exactly earth shattering numbers.

Colin Hansen as quoted by the Burnaby now made this statement "most small business hate the PST system because it`s so complex and it requires so much administration,it`s estimated that this shift will take 150 million in compliance costs(annually,across the province) off of companies,bigger companies have computers systems do it"

Well I don`t know where Colin Hansen has been living but lets look at his statement,Hansen is admitting that big companies just tweak their computer and they`re done,where is big business administration savings? And in case you haven`t noticed,7-11..restaurants,corner stores,THEY ALL USE COMPUTERS,they merely have to tweak their computers!

A few big businesses have come out in favour of HST but they have talked in generalities,"(should) over time lower costs,investment climate (may)improve over 5 to ten years" Where is the definitive statement? Even Jock Finlayson said the same vague hooey,maybe in 10 years we will really see the difference,what kind of nonsense is that,yet small business,food industry,tourism,housing,services,labour,many foods,the list goes on and on and on of items that will cost more to the consumers without any benefit to those industries!

Unless the lumber demand picks up in the USA,unless commodity prices rise,natural gas prices rise,these industries won`t make money,and tax policy be damned,it will have no affect on their viability.......And not to mention we have a PST exempt province next door to compete with(Alberta)....and we have a southern border to compete with.......We have the lowest minimum wage in Canada 8$ per hour(Ontario 10$) and a 6$ training wage,Ontario hasn`t got a training wage....So what if Ontario goes HST,we have the wage advantage over them.........And finally,we have the most expensive housing in Canada,fuel,foods,the public is tapped,a 2 billion dollar yearly tax hit to the consumer will fuel the underground and make the cash strapped consumer pull back which will hurt business............

So Gordon Campbell,so Colin Hansen,time to come clean,admit our province is broke and indebted for starters,tell the truth,and if you need money write some new legislation,cancel the tax cuts associated with your useless carbon tax and put that money into general revenue..........and those are the STRAIGHT GOODS