Referendum repeals blending of PST, GST
The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in British Columbia is no more. The province held a referendum on the tax, and 54 per cent of voters said scrap it.
B.C. brought the HST in on July 1, 2010. It blended the seven per cent provincial sales tax with the five per cent federal GST. But the population voiced strong displeasure at the blending of the taxes, and in response the government held a referendum.
Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was expected to hold a press conference sometime on Friday to announce what the government will do in the wake of the referendum. Slightly more than 1.6 million people voted in the referendum, according to Elections BC.
A B.C. government panel estimated the HST was costing families an extra $350 per year.
