HST mathematics
I find both the ads about the HST vote and the referendum question quite confusing [“Agency extends deadline,” July 6]. I also find them short on simple math. I understand simple math. When the HST came in I did some simple math to figure out how much more, if anything, the HST was going to cost me.
I am a single lady with very few extraordinary expenses and I figured that it was going to cost me somewhere between $800 and $1,000 more a year than keeping the PST and GST as it was. Now, even if you reduce the HST to 10 per cent from 12 per cent (and that won’t happen until three years from now), I am still going to be paying between $600 and $800 more a year.
If you do the math for a working couple or a family of four, who have significantly more expenses than I do—many of which used to be exempt from PST under the old system—it comes to a lot of money.
The only reason I can figure to vote no to keep the HST (don’t get confused now) might be to help the government avoid the pickle it is going to be in trying to sort things out after most of us vote yes to go back to the old system.
Eileen McKinnon
Joyce Avenue
BC Bike Race
We did it again. Powell River hosted day three of the BC Bike Race for a second year, and feedback from racers around the world was positive [“Different spokes for different folks,” June 29]. We made them feel welcome, we showed them a good time and many will return as tourists and perhaps to settle down.
While my son Russell and I have been spotlighted as the organizers, a great many more people were essential to the success we have achieved. Tla’Amin (Sliammon) First Nation welcomed our visitors to its traditional territory; City of Powell River mayor and council, as well as city employees, provided invaluable assistance; Powell River RCMP detachment and auxiliaries pitched in; and local businesses and service clubs, such as the morning Rotary Club of Powell River Sunrise group, did their part.
Last and certainly not least, members of our Powell River Cycling Association, including the Wild Women Club, came through yet again, providing endless hours of volunteer effort helping to clean and improve the trail network and marshalling the race course. An amazing team effort.
I am incredibly proud of my community and all my friends who helped put Powell River on the global mountain biking map. I have no doubt BC Bike Race will want to return.
Wayne Brewer, course director
Westview Avenue
Taxes
Voting on whether we want HST or GST and PST is a farce [“Agency extends deadline,” July 6].
The provincial government slaps on PST, with proceeds apparently supposed to go to health care. They didn’t.
Then it slaps on GST to pay a debt. It didn’t. Now it’s HST and it’s apparently “good for us.”
Double taxes exist. You pay gas tax and HST, tobacco tax and HST, liquor tax and HST. There must be more that are hidden in your receipt.
One that really got to me was tax on a postage stamp—59 cents for a stamp plus seven cents for HST. But, 12 per cent of 57 cents only equals 0.0684, not 0.07. So, after selling a million stamps there is an extra $16,000 floating around for who?
After I renewed my car insurance I found I now pay a premium tax of 4.4 per cent. Who authorized that? It’s bad enough the government slaps on taxes. Who else is doing it?
We should go back to a basic provincial tax of seven per cent. That would make me better off and a lot happier too. All this tax talk is giving me the DTs (that’s delirium tremors).
K.D. Scott
Manson Avenue
