Published in the Barrie Advance
9 December 2009
Since it now appears that the HST will pass into law, despite the wishes of sizable portion of Ontarians (given the number of letters to the editor and editorials I’ve seen stating that people don’t want this tax increase), I will now throw the matter over to Tim Hudak, the Leader of the Opposition at Queen’s Park. What will you do with the HST if you are elected?
I did hear you discuss this topic on Newstalk 1010 a few weeks ago, where you explained that the legislation contains a provision that would prevent a Progressive Conservative government from repealing the tax for at least five years. While we all know that governments have the ability to change laws when needed, maybe that is a legitimate fact and there truly is nothing that you can do.
Given all this, what would you do with the HST? Would you repeal it after five years? Would you lower the provincial portion of the tax, perhaps to 5 per cent, along with income tax cuts? Would you make the provincial portion of the HST only applicable to goods and services
already subject to the PST?
These are questions that you and your party will need to answer before the next election if you hope to form the next government.
