B.C. anti-HST petition meets legal benchmark
Meanwhile in Ontario, Hudak (Ontario PC Leader) has floated the idea of knocking a percentage point off of the HST were he to be elected. Hopefully Bill Vander Zalm’s crusade will show Canadians that direct democracy can have a real effect and break throuhg the apathy to the globalist tax in Ontario and elsewhere.
Related: Liberals admit HST will cost families up to $480 a year | Underground economy emerges in Ontario in response to HST | B.C. anti-HST petition hits target weeks ahead of schedule | Protesters worked up over HST levy on fitness | Anti-HST petition nears goal in B.C. | HST rage puts B.C. Liberals in a spot | Harmonized tax could cost Ontarians $5.9B a year | HST will cost families, McGuinty finally admits | HST begins taxing Ontario on Saturday | First Nations protest against HST | Canadian taxes fastest-growing expense: Report | BC Govt, Anti-HST Campaigners Dispute Legality of Pro-HST Leaflet | Electricity rates surge in Ontario | Up to 50,000 protest Charest’s tax hikes | Paul Volcker: VAT, Carbon taxes may be necessary | Nova Scotia budget hikes HST rate | Thousands protest Quebec budget | HST legislation introduced in B.C. | Facing years of deficits, Ontario freezes wages | Former premier Bill Vander Zalm rallies against the HST in BC | Ontario tax collectors get $45K severance, keep jobs in HST federalization deal | Athens erupts as Greek austerity plan passes | HST ad campaign debuts in Ontario | Ont. deficit could linger for years: McGuinty | HST bill passes, 13% tax starts July 1 | Poll: HST equals Hated Sales Tax | Anti-HST protest at Ontario legislature spills onto Toronto streets | Tories, Liberals, Bloc approve HST for Ontario and B.C.
Jonathan Fowlie, Canwest News
June 14, 2010
VICTORIA – Organizers of a petition to repeal B.C.’s harmonized sales tax said Monday they now have signatures from 15% of people in all 85 ridings across the province.
That number puts the group well ahead of the legal requirement for a successful petition, greatly increasing the likelihood it will pass and compel the provincial government to consider dropping the unpopular tax.
To be successful, a petition must be signed by 10% of registered voters in each provincial riding.
After the petition is submitted, Elections BC will validate each signature to make sure they belong to people living in the proper ridings.
If the petition succeeds, the initiative would go to a legislative committee. That committee would then have 90 days to recommend introduction of a draft bill or refer the initiative to the chief electoral officer for a referendum.
Six other citizen-led initiatives have died since recall and initiative legislation was enacted in 1995.
In a news release, petition co-organizer Chris Delaney said the 15% threshold means one in three signatures could be discarded and the petition will still meet the needed 10% support in each riding.
“These are amazing numbers, and prove unequivocally that British Columbians of every persuasion reject the HST,” he said in the release.
Former premier and petition co-organizer Bill Vander Zalm said the result shows Premier Gordon Campbell needs to repeal the HST.
“Cancelling the HST now would not only save British Columbia consumers and businesses from the HST, but it might even save his government,” Mr. Vander Zalm said in the news release.
“There is nothing more to wait for,” he added. “Stop fighting your own people and cancel the HST now.”
The HST, which merges the PST and GST into one tax, comes into effect on July 1.
Source | See also under Taxation: Liberals admit HST will cost families up to $480 a year | G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M | US Federal Trade Commission considers taxing online speech | G20 to delay tough bank tax regulations | Underground economy emerges in Ontario in response to HST | Report suggests road tolls to fight climate change | B.C. anti-HST petition hits target weeks ahead of schedule | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | UK Coalition ministers and bankers to oppose pan-European bailout fund | Protesters worked up over HST levy on fitness | Congress blocks indiscriminate IMF aid for Europe | Anti-HST petition nears goal in B.C. | HST rage puts B.C. Liberals in a spot | Privacy commissioner outlines concerns surrounding Ontario’s Smart Grid plan | Harmonized tax could cost Ontarians $5.9B a year | Canada, EU at loggerheads over bank tax | HST will cost families, McGuinty finally admits | New austerity measures essential, says Greek PM | HST begins taxing Ontario on Saturday | Auditor General produces new warning on E Health record plan | Flaherty wins delay in decision on global bank tax at interim G20 meeting | Unconstitutional? Ontario government slips another new energy tax in under the radar | Bankers Prepare To Assault Americans With VAT, Transaction Taxes | First Nations protest against HST | Montreal flirting with road tolls | GTA road tolls are inevitable, professor says | Global bank tax urged by IMF | Canadian taxes fastest-growing expense: Report | BC Govt, Anti-HST Campaigners Dispute Legality of Pro-HST Leaflet | Flaherty stands firm against new bank tax | Toronto mayor David Miller uses subway PA to push for funding | Electricity rates surge in Ontario | Up to 50,000 protest Charest’s tax hikes | Paul Volcker: VAT, Carbon taxes may be necessary | Nova Scotia budget hikes HST rate | Newfoundland residents protest national park fees on ‘traditional’ land | HST fight makes allies of B.C. political foes | Ottawa busker bylaw enforced | Thousands protest Quebec budget | HST legislation introduced in B.C. | Nicolas Sarkozy under fire after carbon tax plan shelved | More stimulus spending coming | MP Charlie Angus Introducing Private Copying Levy Bill, Flexible Fair Dealing Motion | Former premier Bill Vander Zalm rallies against the HST in BC | Ontario tax collectors get $45K severance, keep jobs in HST federalization deal | MEPs vote overwhelmingly for an EU Tobin Tax | Green energy bubbles threaten to pop at both Federal and Municipal levels | IMF chief calls for quota-based global warming slush fund | Frustrated Icelanders vent rage by voting no in referendum | EU considers general carbon tax | UK: Spy chips hidden in 2.5 million dustbins, councils plan 60% tax hike | Greece unveils radical austerity package | Tories hand out $75 billion worth of ’spending restraint’ | Obama unveils newest health-care plan | Gordon Brown’s plan for global bank tax ‘a step closer’ | EU leaders reach secret Greek bailout deal | HST ad campaign debuts in Ontario | The US budget: Barack Obama’s $3.8 trillion red ink blueprint | Global Bank Insurance Levy Wins Support over Transaction Tax at Davos | Cellphone fines up to $500 for Ont. drivers start Monday | IMF warns against retreat from stimulus spending | Terence Corcoran: Ontario puts $10B in the wind | EU urged to adopt bank supertax | Flaherty’s economic plan blasted as leading to taxation or cuts | Obama ponders bank transaction levy to recoup bailout shortfalls | Running a red light? It’ll cost you big time now | See more in The Memory Hole — Taxation
June 27th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
For everyone who disagrees with with the HST here’s a powerful way to protest.
For the next week, or month (better) or two months (much better) or longer (the best) put off purchasing anything you can do without for a short period. SPEND NO MONEY. If enough people get on board with this, it’ll make our current govt. shudder all the way to it’s coffers.
Let the average people exert some collective power!….
June 27th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Well Danielle, I do like your thinking and I agree, their parasitic behavior and their childlike sense of entitlement has to be punished.Not buying anything is about all this is left to us.
When Ontario Hydro’s plan of getting people to cut back on electricity actually worked, they raised their prices to make up for their shortfalls.
They had to pay a certain Anglican minister her due, you know. How she could do what she did with a straight face and continue in any position of a charitable nature is baffling.
But there you have it. There is no sum to small to steal and no sum large enough to satisfy the state and its agents and former agents.