BC HST Referendum -- July 22

Vote Yes to Extinguish the HST

- Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) -

BC referendum to extinguish the Harmonized Sales Tax

Voting in the BC referendum to extinguish the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) has now begun. Eligible voters who have not received a voter's package should immediately contact Elections BC, as the mail-in ballot must be returned by July 22.

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) urges the BC polity to vote yes to extinguish the HST. The HST is a creature of the neoliberal anti-social offensive to transfer wealth from the working class and middle strata to the owners of monopoly capital, further undermining the economy and consolidating social wealth and political power in fewer and fewer hands.

The HST represents the continuing degeneration of the tax system into a pay-the-rich scheme to consolidate social wealth and political power in the hands of a privileged minority. The HST is the extension of the Conservative Party's Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduced by Prime Minister Mulroney in 1991 as part of the global anti-social offensive of the financial oligarchy, and now expanded by the Harper regime to ensnare Quebec and the provinces.

Both the federal GST and BC provincial HST represent political ambushes of the polity by the parties in power. Canadians across the country have consistently expressed their opposition to sales taxes and other forms of individual taxation as unsuitable methods for governments to claim their necessary portion of social wealth. Contrary to the popular will and public right, the parties in power have turned their backs on the people and introduced anti-social sales taxes and lowered corporate taxes to serve monopoly right. A yes vote to extinguish the HST is an opportunity for the people to register their opposition to the party in power's dictatorship of the "mandate" and subservience to the rich and their monopolies. A yes victory would also stimulate a broad discussion for a modern tax system that serves the people, economy and public right, especially at this time as BC residents prepare for a provincial election.

Claims on Social Wealth

Social wealth is created from the work-time of the people of BC transforming the bounty of Mother Earth into useable products. This social wealth is circulated throughout the various sectors of the economy. The three main claimants of social wealth are (1) the working class and middle strata, (2) governments and those under their care, and (3) owners of capital.

The working class and middle strata generally claim social wealth based on their qualifications and work-time and should have first claim by virtue of being the producers of all social wealth and the providers of all services that society, the economy and people require for their existence.

Governments claim social wealth for investments in social programs, infrastructure, the functioning of state institutions and to meet their social responsibilities. Governments should have second claim on social wealth because of their central decisive role in the maintenance of society and the general well- being of the people. Governments should claim social wealth directly from the gross income of socialised enterprises that employ people to produce and distribute goods and provide services. Based on an understanding of the amount of social wealth necessary to guarantee the general interests of society, the well-being of the people and to meet their social responsibilities, governments should claim that amount directly from the gross income of all socialised enterprises. Under such a modern tax regime, governments should stop making their claims indirectly from individuals notably using sales taxes, personal income taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes and user fees, as well as stop their indirect claims from what socialised enterprises profess as their corporate profit. Government claims should come directly from the aggregate social product of the socialised economy.

Owners of capital claim social wealth based on their positions of privilege and ownership of parts of the socialised economy. Their claim should come only after the claims of the working class and middle strata and governments have been fully satisfied and enough social wealth has been set aside for the requirements of extended reproduction of the socialized economy.

The basic sectors of the economy are socialized and interconnected from production to distribution to consumption. The three main claimants of the aggregate social product should claim their portions directly from the socialized economy and not from each other. Taxes and user fees on individuals and taxation of what is determined as corporate profit are in contradiction with the socialized nature of the economy and a contributing factor to recurring economic crises. Governments should claim their portion of the social product directly from the economy and not from workers and middle strata or owners of capital. To vote yes to extinguish the HST is one step in bringing coherence and a modern definition to the claims of government on social wealth.

People should also denounce the BC Liberal Party in power for using the provincial treasury and its position as government to promote the HST and oppose a yes vote. The BC Liberal government shamelessly uses government propaganda organs and bribery to cause confusion and sway the polity to vote no. The government says that it will reduce the HST to 10 per cent from 12 per cent if the polity votes no but that it will keep the PST at 7 per cent and the GST at 5 per cent if the polity votes yes. The Liberal Party in power is contemptible in this regard. Its words and actions prove that individual taxation is unprincipled and outmoded, and at the whim of those in power can be manipulated both up and down to serve monopoly right. The disgraceful words and actions of the Liberal government in power are yet more reasons to vote yes to extinguish the HST and strike a positive blow for public right!

The HST Cannot Be Fixed

- Jim Sinclair, President, BC Federation of Labour, June 10, 2011 -

During the leadup to the 2009 provincial election, instead of campaigning on their plan to introduce the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), the Liberal government and its MLAs denied they were even considering it. But with the ballots barely counted, the Liberals announced they would proceed with the largest and most unfair tax shift in the province's history.

Incensed at being lied to and having their taxes increased to fund tax cuts for corporations, British Columbians rebelled. When the dust settled, the people won Round One. A grassroots movement spread across the province, forcing a referendum on the issue.

The people won Round Two in November 2010, when Gordon Campbell was forced to resign as premier.

Today a desperate Liberal party led by newly elected Premier Christy Clark is scrambling to win Round Three by spending millions of taxpayer dollars to convince British Columbians the HST is good for them.

Anti-HST rally, Victoria, September 19, 2009. (Tony Sprackett)

Let's be clear: The HST can't be fixed. The changes promised by Clark are a cynical attempt to buy British Columbians with their own money and, more importantly, dropping the tax by two points will cause a major revenue crisis leading to more cutbacks of schools, hospitals and government services.

Clark knows this is true -- she said so herself.

"We aren't going to be talking about trying to reduce it by a point or two before the referendum. I think people will see that as buying them with their own money," Clark stated on March 21, adding that the province will either have a $1.6 billion bigger deficit or $1.6 billion less to spend on heart operations, special needs teachers, school facilities, hospital emergency rooms.

She is right on both counts, but she did it anyway. However, the cost to citizens of the HST goes beyond creating bigger deficits or extreme cuts to public services.

This tax is fundamentally flawed because it takes billions of dollars from working families and gives those dollars to B.C.'s largest corporations.

Despite the convoluted question on the referendum, the real choice is between the HST and the provincial sales tax. If British Columbians vote Yes to reject the HST and reintroduce the PST, the government will receive an estimated $6.4 billion from the PST in 2014-15 to pay for public services. Based on historical data, corporations will pay about $2.6 billion and citizens will pay $3.8 billion. Corporations and citizens share the responsibility and the tax will not apply to hundreds of essential purchases.

If British Columbians vote No and keep the HST, the government will receive in 2014-15 about $5.3 billion from the tax, paid entirely by British Columbians and their families. Not only will this create a huge shortfall in revenue (as predicted by the premier) but corporations will pay virtually nothing. This is unfair.

Clark's HST will still have British Columbians paying $1.4 billion more in taxes in 2014-15, but the provincial budget will be more than $1 billion short to pay for public services. Citizens pay more money and get fewer services. This makes no sense.

Yes, Clark announced a "temporary" increase in corporate taxes from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, but that will generate only a small portion of what the HST will save them. And don't forget, since the Liberals took power, the tax on corporate profits has been cut from 16.5 per cent to 10 per cent. The result has been a windfall of nearly $8.5 billion since 2001. Corporate profits also increased 60 per cent during the same period.

Did all those corporate tax cuts create jobs, Unfortunately, no. Corporations took the money and ran, closing mills and factories at a record pace, leaving us with 28,000 fewer manufacturing jobs today than at the beginning of the Liberal regime.

Don't be fooled by the Liberals or the upside-down question. Vote Yes to scrap the HST, vote Yes to the PST, vote Yes for fair taxes and vote Yes to properly fund public services for all British Columbians.

(www.bcfed.ca)

July 16, 2011 Bulletin • Return to Index • Write to: editor@cpcml.ca