07 January 2010

I Support the HST - P2

... but, as I wrote previously, I don't support the way our Liberal government foisted its particular brand of the HST onto British Columbians.

Now my support for the HST is supported by the typically NDP-friendly Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to whit:

the central result [of our analysis] - that the tax credits and tax cuts have the effect of offsetting the impact of the increased HST revenue for low-income and moderate-income families and of moderating the impact for other families - holds.

This jibes precisely with my experience of the BC government's 'revenue-neutral' carbon tax. While the tax needs improvement, certainly in terms of its impact on climate change measures, it has helped this low income household, not harmed it.

I expect similar experience with the HST, given the rebates I will be getting.

All of which leaves me wondering... Just who does the NDP, the party that holds itself up as champion of the poor, actually represent? And why is it working so hard to mislead the public, especially people of low income, about these taxes?

ETA: I realize that this CCPA report assesses specifically the Ontario HST program. However, the issues are similar enough to the BC situation to make the report also relevant here.

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