Colin Hansen's propaganda

According to an article in the Vancouver Sun (June 26, 2010) B.C. Finance Minister Hansen dismissed concerns that the restaurant business would be adversely affected by the HST:

"In terms of the restaurant industry, what studies show is the consumption of restaurant meals is driven more by a strong economy and more by consumer confidence than by any tax raise," Hansen said, noting once the economy is fully recovered from the recession the service industry should not notice any loss of profits.

Funny "law of supply and demand"! (When B.C. Liberals resist an increase in the minimum wage they use this argument in reverse, i.e. that a cost increase would hurt the restaurant business.)

Hansen also noted a multinational company like Rio Tinto Alcan could save $70 million thanks to the HST.

According to the Minister low income families making less than $25,000 per year will get rebates of $230 per family member per year. He also mentioned $80 savings for every B.C. taxpayer thanks to an increase in the province's basic personal tax exemption.

That works out to $ 310.- of tax savings per year for low income earners and $ 230.- savings per year for the poor , who do not pay income taxes.

According to Statistics Canada, the average B.C. household could be spending $521 more each year with the HST, i.e. a tax increase of $ 291.- per year, as reported by the Vancouver Sun (June 22, 2010).

The average B.C. household could take a hit of $521 to its bottom line next year as a result of the harmonized sales tax, according to a model prepared for the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper by Statistics Canada.

The change could range anywhere from $78 for households with single parents and one child to $801 for a married couple with no children,the figures show.

If one puts more faith in the extensive model Statistics Canada used with inputs from various government departments than the opinion pieces, such as this one, the Government relies on it would appear that Mr. Hansen is lying.

(This document was linked to on the Ministry's website. It was subsequently removed, perhaps because Mr. Hansen claimed the opposite of what the author has written.)

HST became law in British Columbia April 29, 2010

The B.C. Lieberals rammed the law through the legislature cutting off debate on Thursday April 29, 2010 and it is immediately charged on certain items, e.g. plane bookings for a flight after July 1st or annual gym memberships.

Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun called it a "shamefest". I think Stalin might have applauded the undemocratic way the government used to adopt the law. To add insult to injury the bill is named Consumption Tax Rebate and Transition Act. That's quite a name for a law, which brings about a tax increase and a massive redistribution of the tax burden. (1984?)

And no, Lieberals is not a typo.

Gordon Campbell was asked during the election campaign if he planned to adopt the Harper Sales Tax, aka Harmonised Sales Tax, and his answer was no as it had been on other occasions before. Once a liar, always a liar, it seems. (When he got arrested for drunk driving in Hawaii he blatantly lied about the number of drinks he consumed before getting behind the wheel. That was shown by a professor at the University of Toronto at the time.)

The Harper Sales Tax will be administered by the federal government and the rate will be 12 percent. Some items, which are subject to the GST will be subject to a rebate of the provincial portion of the HST.

Here is some Information and propaganda about the Harper Sales Tax.

Information about the administration of the HST in British Columbia is also available on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website.

What is strange about those in favour of the HST is that it is usually the same crowd that does the never ending whining about tax cuts. (Nobody likes to pay taxes but they are a necessity in any civilised society.) But with respect to this tax they not only love the shift from businesses to consumers but, by implication, they also love a tax increase.

No matter what the Lieberals tell you about this being revenue neutral, a fourth grader could tell you that if you tax previously untaxed items without lowering the rate of taxation tax revenue will inevitably increase.

A document published by the C.D. Howe Institute claims:

"Burdens on business would decline substantially with harmonization to the GST base (Table 1 note i) but if such a reform were to be revenue-neutral ... the statutory tax burdens on consumer expenditures would necessarily rise. (p.10) (Nevertheless, on p.14 the author claims: "Overall, consumer prices in the harmonizing provinces [in the Maritimes] fell with the reform, although prices rose somewhat for shelter and clothing and footwear, and that fact tended to make the reform slightly regressive. [my emphasis]

Even those prices which fell didn't necessarily fall because of the HST. The essay is in the form of a commentary and it is therefore safe to assume that it was not peer reviewed.

Haven't we heard about revenue-neutral tax reform before? Yes. It was with another conservative government when Brian Mulroney made the same claim about the GST. In its first year the GST netted the government about twice as much as the Manufacturing Sales Tax it replaced.

The Harper Sales Tax inevitably means a tax increase and it remains to be seen if the $ 230.- credit for low income individuals is enough to offset it for the less advantaged.

"The annual amount of the credit will be $230 per family member for individuals with incomes up to $20,000 and families with incomes up to $25,000. The credit will be phased out by 4 per cent of income above the thresholds."

It may, or may not, be a significant tax increase but one thing is indisputably true: It is a redistribution of income from consumers to businesses.

It is estimated that harmonization will remove over $2 billion in costs for BC businesses. This includes an estimated $1.9 billion of sales tax removed from business inputs and administrative savings for BC businesses of about $150 million annually.

Next time you vote keep in mind how conservatives hit you in the pocket book. (Not that the LPC is much better.)

After Mulroney (and a brief interlude of Kim Campbell) the Tories were reduced to two seats in the House of Commons. If the anger expressed on comment pages of the Globe and Mail and the number of people signing the petition to have this put to a referendum is any indication, the same might be in store for Gordon Campbell.

But by then he will have once again served the interests of business and given the cost this would entail it will be almost impossible to get rid of the Harper Sales tax.

Will the real Osama bin Laden please stand up?

Official FBI photo

It's been a long time since we were shown photos of Osama bin Laden. Now Reuters published a
photo said to have been taken of him in 2009.

If you ask me it doesn't look much like him. (Compare the nose in the 1998 and 2009 pictures.) But this falls into a well established pattern. I have seven different pictures officials claimed to be of the man. (And had several others I unfortunately can't find anymore.) The trouble is they often don't look as if they were of the same person.

Have a look.

Vancouver's Green Olympics

Cypress Mountain
24-01-2010
Official Venue for Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding
It needs some snow!

I opposed the bid for the Games because I think it's a bad investment. However, after having spent the enormous amount of money for this circus I hope they will be a success.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

The Games will be held Feb. 12 to Feb. 28 and organizers are thinking of using helicopters to transport some snow from the top of the mountain to the venues. That wouldn't be in line with the boast of the Games being the most environmentally friendly. (This is not to deny the laudable efforts which are made in that direction.)

BC fiscal cupboard is bare

The B.C. government said in its Throne Speech that it will review its health authorities, boards of education and Crown corporations in an effort to find cost savings.

"Shrinking revenues will by necessity curtail our discretionary spending," the government said. "The fiscal cupboard is bare and currently hangs on a wall of deficit spending."

Shrinking revenues: Only three weeks ago the government reduced its revenues by giving royalty breaks to the oil and gas industry, of all businesses.

Is the government of Gordon Campbell merely incompetent or is it determined at any cost to give money to very profitable industries?

Stephen Harper's Senate appointments

Integrity or expedience?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will name eight new Senators. These appointments will give the Conservatives 46 of the 105 seats in the Senate. The Liberals have 53 and the rest are independent.

Stephen Harper, January 15, 2004:

"... the Upper House remains a dumping ground for the favoured cronies of the Prime Minister."


Conservative Party website during 2006 election:

"A conservative government will not appoint to the senate anyone who does not have a mandate from the people."


Yet, the government has "now made 27 Senate appointments of his Conservative cronies in less then a year."

And what a lucrative "job" it is! It pays $ 132,000.- for working, on average, 70 days a year sitting in the Senate. However, this didn't stop some of the new appointees wanting to keep their current jobs as well.

It's not about Khadr. It's about us.

CTV News reported:

Omar Khadr's lawyer says his client is being unfairly punished by the Conservative government, which has steadfastly refused to request his repatriation from Guantanamo Bay despite court rulings ordering it to do so.

Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling in Khadr's favour and ruled the government must move to bring Khadr home.

On Tuesday, Ottawa confirmed it will fight the decision and take the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Khadr's Canadian lawyer Denis Edney said he is mystified by the government's continued refusal to bring Khadr home.

"Every Western country that has had a detainee in Guantanamo Bay has simply requested that their detainees come home, and that has happened," Edney told CTV News Channel [emphasis is mine].

Khadr is accused of lobbing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15. In seven years in Guantanamo Bay, he has not gone through a trial.

Edney said his client should be treated as a child soldier, noting that Canada donates millions to help rehabilitate child soldiers from countries like Sierra Leone, because it considers them to be victims.

"And yet Omar Khadr is not afforded any protection from Canada. It boggles my mind, I just see it as a mean-spirited government that selects what type of Canadian it wishes to assist," he said.
The Government of Canada is saying justice should take its course.

Justice Conservative style.

"Even some Conservatives privately admit they have been taken aback by Harper’s utter indifference to pleas about Khadr’s plight."

Besides it's a move which is likely to waste a lot of taxpayers' money. I'd be willing to give odds that the Supreme Court of Canada will uphold the judgments of the lower courts.

Most importantly, it's not primarily about Khadr.

Above all it's about us and the kind of country and society we wish to live in.