The HST is no more. At least it won’t be in the next 18-24 months.
B.C. has spoken and 54.7 per cent voted to scrap the HST and bring back the old model of the PST/GST.
But what happens now?
Finance Minister Kevin Falcon spoke to the media on Friday, saying “I’m obviously, as the Finance Minister, disappointed in the final result.”
The target time to restore the PST is March 31, 2013 and the tax will be restored at seven per cent.
In addition to this restoration, the $230 HST low-income credit will be replaced with a much lower $75 PST credit.
“There will be a public consultation on the fiscal plan impact,” said Falcon.
He also added that the province will be fulfilling their obligation to return the $1.6 billion in funding to the federal government.
“Fight HST” leader Bill Vander Zalm said “this is a phenomenal victory,” after the HST referendum results were announced.
Premier Christy Clark thanked Kevin Falcon for all his work in regards to the HST, and said she thought both outcomes of the referendum were likely. “I’m disappointed as I said in the final tally,” she commented, “but I think there are real reasons for optimism.”
“The HST debate has been long, and has sometimes been very contentious,” she said. “While I share your concern about the way the HST was brought in, our government tried to make things right, by listening, engaging, and then trying to make those changes.”
Clark admitted that in her opinion, if the HST had been introduced in a different way, perhaps it would have been met with a different reaction from the public.
“It is time as a province to turn the page,” she said.
The premier has also not ruled out the fact that there may be a fall election, merely telling a reported that perhaps they think about elections more than she does.
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