Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on a question I raised on September 17 about the harmonized sales tax.
A Globe and Mail article on September 19 had the headline, “HST's price tag revealed: consumers hit hardest”. The article states, “Consumers will bear the brunt of proposed tax changes in Ontario and British Columbia while businesses reap windfall savings of $6.9 billion”. It is referring to a TD report. The article goes on to say, “The TD report adds fresh fuel to accusations...that harmonization is little more than a tax grab aimed at benefiting businesses at the expense of consumers”.
New Democrats have been raising this issue in the House because the HST shifts taxes from businesses to families. An average family of four will now have to pay an additional $1,500 per year. Of course that will depend on the family's consumption patterns.
Many times in the House we have heard the Conservatives say that this is a provincial matter, yet the seeds of this were sown a number of years ago by the finance minister in his 2006 budget. In that budget the government invited all provinces that had not yet done so to engage in discussions on the harmonization of the provincial retail sales tax with the federal GST.
There are a number of reports from various newspapers. “Feds still pressuring Province to sign on to HST”. That was in the Summerside, P.E.I. Journal Pioneer on August 10. “Ottawa made Victoria an offer it couldn't refuse on HST -- $1.6 billion in cash” That is from the Vancouver Sun of August 1, 2009.
We see this pressure from the federal government for provinces to engage in the HST. When I raised this question on September 17, it was in the context of housing. A fellow by the name of Bill Tieleman in the province of British Columbia has been leading the anti-HST campaign. He said that when buying a brand new home, houses and apartments priced under $400,000 would get an HST rebate, but the problem with that is that 40% of all homes in British Columbia cost more than $400,000. He said not to forget real estate commissions. Those fees will go from 5% to 12% HST. With respect to condominiums, all building maintenance as well as property management firms will charge an extra 7% HST. We can see these direct impacts on people in British Columbia.
I could spend my entire four minutes going over the list of goods and services that will be subject to the harmonized sales tax, but there are couple of others I want to specifically mention. According to a B.C. government document on transitional HST rules, if people want to beat the impending B.C. harmonized sales tax, they should pay for their funeral now, because it is one of the only things people will not be taxed an extra 7% on if the HST goes ahead on July 1, 2010. The B.C. government itself is suggesting that people prepay for their funerals so they will not have to pay HST once July 1, 2010 rolls around.
The B.C. Restaurant Association estimates that British Columbians will pay an additional $694 million on restaurant meals alone if the HST is introduced. In these tough economic times what we do not need is restaurant owners, hairdressers and all those other service providers to lose customers when we are actually asking people to get out and support their local businesses.
This unfair tax shift to consumers is unfortunate in these times.