It makes me realize - democracy is not always a good thing. It was good when the B.C. government promised to decrease it to 10% due to the possibiity of being voted off. It was unfortunate when it was actually voted off. People made the decision could be un-informed, or not thought through, or just not care ...
If you don't allow a competitive environment for B.C. companies, they could lay off workers... When it is hard to find a job, people tend to spend less ...If you don't care about the economy, and just focus on the pennies in your pocket, it will hurt you more. That is why I am so sad for B.C.. I hope B.C. is not just a paradise for wealthy people from HK and mainland.
On the other hand, We Ontarian could have raised our voice for our unhappiness on HST, to make the government lower the rate. But there is a reason why Ontario has more job opportunities. HST contributes to it, although that means we have to pay a little bit more now.
回复杨子的评论:
Thank you very much for writing this topic; in case you did not read this one from Globe and Mail - HST’s defeat in BC shows danger of ruling by plebiscite at
Last updated Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 10:41PM EDT
563 comments
The people of British Columbia have passed up an excellent opportunity for their province’s economy and thus for themselves, by voting against the Harmonized Sales Tax – a visible, neutral tax that favours productivity. B.C. will now have to wait for decades before a future provincial government summons up the courage and wisdom to try again – probably on less favourable terms.
It is an understandable result, considering the unexpected 2009 announcement of the B.C. government’s HST agreement with the federal government, so soon after a provincial election, though Gordon Campbell, the premier at the time, and Colin Hansen, the finance minister, were responding to a federal offer that was occasioned by the HST agreement that had just been reached between Ontario and Ottawa. There was no sinister, underhanded plot to deceive the public. In the end, the anti-HST vote was not as strong as might have been feared; almost 45 per cent voted in favour of an unpopular tax. The turnout in the mail-in referendum was in the same range as in the 2009 election; at any rate, the outcome was not skewed by over-representation of cranks and fanatics.
Premier Christy Clark and Kevin Falcon, the Finance Minister, are left with the thankless task of picking up the pieces. B.C. will presumably have to revert to a combination of the federal GST and the old Provincial Sales Tax. The PST goes back to 1949, to a time when manufacturing made up a far larger part of the economy – B.C.’s and the Western world’s as a whole – than it does now. The upshot of this unfortunate exercise in plebiscitarian – as opposed to parliamentary – democracy will be an unjust treatment of all those who take part in the making of physical objects and a privileging of those who deliver services.
Proverbs such as “The voice of the people is the voice of God” are not true. For all the failings of politicians, the processes of parliamentary assemblies yield better policy than take-it-or-leave-it plebiscites; in this case, a good tax has been defeated. An unholy alliance of the left and the populist right has prevailed. Let other governments take heed, and resist the temptation to tamper with representative democracy. Eventually, B.C. will need to return to a tax very like the HST it has now rejected.
2b;not2b 发表评论于
回复newGSDowner的评论:
Yes, totally agreed - It was not wise to go back. Oftentimes, 真理只是在少数人手里。。。。。。
没落贵族 发表评论于
就是不爽自由党蛮横的做法
newGSDowner 发表评论于
HST definitely benefits the province's economy. With the government's promise to decrease it to 10%, everyone should be able to benefit from it. It was not a wise move to vote against it.