Emotions got in the way of HST vote: CFIB
Posted September 4, 2012 11:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Anger got in the way of clear decision making. That’s what a group representing businesses is saying in light of a survey suggesting some business owners now wish they could change their vote in the HST referendum.
Shachi Kurl is the Director of Provincial Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business‘ BC and Yukon Division. She says at the time, emotions got in the way.
“[Some] small business owners at the time were saying to us, ‘We like the tax structure, we think it’s good for the business, but we are so angry at government, so angry that we want to send a message,'” explains Kurl.
She says many now remember how the PST affected their operations.
“The PST was an awful tax for them,” she believes. “It was confusing, it was fraught with exceptions and exemptions and rules that were difficult to understand and administer at the best of times.”
Kurl believes anger died down when the Liberals offered to cut the tax to 10 per cent, but it was reignited during the referendum campaign.
“I kind of liken it to relationship counseling,” she continues. “Something has gone wrong, it blows over a little bit, you get into talking about it and reliving it and people get angry all over again.”
Kurl says many business owners knew the long-term HST benefits were there, but could not see past the anger.
She points out, however, that the vast majority of them were in favour of the tax.
“The businesses against it were very much a minority compared to the businesses that supported it, who were telling us they supported it,” she says. “It wasn’t a huge majority. It was a voice. It was something we were aware of and that’s why I’m not surprised to see these numbers today.”
“The majority of business owners that saw the benefit to their businesses still stuck with it,” Kurl adds.
The survey by Sage North America found a quarter of business owners who voted against the tax wish they could reverse that decision. That’s based on overbearing paperwork during the switch back to the GST/PST, followed by its effect on the BC economy.
It’s been just over a year since the HST was voted out. The old tax system returns in April.
