Carson Binda: New poll finds majority in every region and every demographic want PST expansion scrapped. Even the legislature’s finance committee recommended it be repealed. So why is the government pushing ahead?
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When your plans are as popular as the guy saying he’s going to annex Canada, it’s a good bet that you should ditch the bad plan.
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Two-thirds of British Columbians want Premier David Eby to abandon his Oct. 1 PST expansion, according to new Leger polling commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
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The PST hike has the same approval rating among British Columbians as U.S. President Donald Trump did in a poll conducted last year, both at 15 per cent approval in B.C.
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Expanding the PST means you will pay more for cable television and land line phones. It means businesses will get charged tax on every security guard and accountant they hire.
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Sunrise
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When Victoria charges businesses higher sales tax, those costs get passed down to families at the till.
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The public hates it.
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Among people who have made up their minds about the PST expansion, 82 per cent said to cancel it.
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That’s a province telling its premier to back off.
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Here is what the tax hike does. Starting Oct. 1, the PST gets slapped onto a pile of things it never touched before, including: cable television, landline telephones, clothing patterns, knitting supplies.
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Think about your grandmother. If she’s anything like mine, she spends her evenings knitting and sewing in front of the six o’clock news. After she’s done, she picks up her landline telephone to chat about the day with her friends. Eby hiking the PST will make all those activities more expensive for seniors.
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Small businesses are gearing up to be slapped with a PST bill for professional services such as security guards and accountants. And when a business pays more tax to hire an accountant or a security guard, that cost doesn’t disappear. It gets passed down to B.C. families at the till.
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Add it all up and the Eby government’s own budget projects the expansion will cost British Columbians nearly $1.5 billion over three years. That’s $1.5 billion pulled out of family budgets and business payrolls during an affordability crunch.
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The backlash isn’t coming from one corner of the province, or one kind of voter. The poll found majorities against the tax hike in every region and every demographic. Women, people aged 55 and older and Vancouver Island residents are the most opposed. Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the rest of B.C. all gave the same answer: Cancel it.
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Households with kids came down even harder against it.
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Families who are facing the biggest cost pressures understand that this tax hike is going to make life even more unaffordable. Seniors and families with little ones are used to counting every nickel and dime and they aren’t keen on forking over even more to Victoria and the Eby government, famous for wasting money.
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It’s not just the public telling Eby to cancel his PST expansion. The legislature’s own committee already agreed.
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The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services heard submissions from British Columbians and recommended the government “repeal the planned Provincial Sales Tax expansion.” When a premier’s own finance committee tells him to stop, that’s worth listening to.
