There is a lot of confusion and rhetoric flying around about the referendum in BC on whether to continue with the HST or revert back to the GST and PST combo system. While I am writing this from Ottawa, the passion of this debate is not diluted. I generally like passion in politics. Being engaged is always praise-worthy. However, in this case I think the fire has brought us a bit off course. Let’s review what this referendum is and, more importantly, is not.
This is not a referendum on the BC Liberals.
We have a way of expressing our opinion on who should be in government and what we think of political parties, they’re called elections. This is not an election, but a referendum. A referendum on an important policy. What I think about the policy will form the basis of my decision. As much as I might resent the BC Liberals, this is not the way to take it out on them. Remember when the BC Liberals sold the FastCats below market value, just to spite the BC NDP? Yes, I was outraged too at the petty “stick it in your face” politics, especially when the person burned is the public. Let’s not throw out a good policy because the people who brought it in our not likeable.
This is not a referendum on trust in governance.
The Government has passed regulations that will see the HST reduced to 10% in 2014. Fight HST is arguing that you can’t trust the government on this promise. Let’s review the facts as I see them: first, it is the law of British Columbia that the tax will now be lowered. Second, it would be political suicide to go back on that promise in the future. I think of all the political promises made, these are pretty solid.
Some have also criticized the Government for the way this policy was introduced. There are concerns over this process, for sure, but this is a poor way to express those frustrations. For the purposes of this referendum, it doesn’t matter how the policy was introduced. The point is that British Columbians now have a say on the policy’s continuation. Arguing that a policy should be scrapped not because of its merits, but because of its introduction is misdirected anger. Especially when we consider that…
This is a referendum on HST, forever.
If the HST is defeated, then it will be deemed politically hostile and will not come up again, in any form, for the foreseeable future.
This is not a referendum on exemptions.
As UBC Economist Kevin Milligan pointed out to me on Twitter, the provincial government can change the exemptions under HST on its own accord (up to 5% of the value of all possible GST revenue in the province). It is unnecessary to scrap the HST because you want bikes/vitamins/whatever to be exempt under HST. The Government could simply change the HST structure. I would like to see some of the exemptions changed, for sure, but I’m not going to bulldoze the bridge because the colour scheme isn’t right. I’m going to campaign for a new colour scheme.
When I cast my ballot, it will be based on the merits of the HST as a policy measure, because that’s what the referendum is on.
