letcher’s column (The News, Sept. 6) sounds more like a political announcement than a proper report on the issues of the day.
He is misleading. The first fact he deals with is that 70,000 businesses in B.C. cannot make the switch back to PST and GST because they have no records.
Give me a break! Of course they do. Otherwise they cannot complete their corporate financial statements or pay their taxes.
Of course they still have the hardware — they used it for HST software after switching from the PST-GST software. And, where do you think these things all happen? At the point-of-sale.
No business will have a problem, other than time, to switch back the systems — especially if given enough lead time.
Speaking of lead time, Mr. Fletcher indicates that the change back to GST-PST cannot be done in a matter of months.
Interesting. Both our Federal and our Provincial Governments have had turns at changing their rate of charge, and these events took place overnight, causing businesses to scramble.
As for businesses with no experience on the PST, they will get it now. I am sure that if they had to deal with eco fees, deposit fees and carbon taxes that have been implemented by the provincial government, they can deal with the PST.
As for the experts all giving different advice to Mike Jagger, perhaps he should have dealt with the provincial government who implemented the tax, and gotten his instructions in writing from the source to ensure he did things right.
All tax consultants are experts, but they all have different approaches.
Then there is the question of what to tax once the HST is erased? Go back to exactly what was there before HST came in.
Last time I looked, the purpose of government was to serve the people. This is a wake-up call to start doing just that.
Linda Smith
Qualicum Beach