Castanet

The only thing the Liberals are good at is looking after their backers (families first)


TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2012
Deception and financial fakery for friends
A few days ago, I wrote Cronies, henchmen and the future and noted the loss of revenue government derives from natural resources, even though prices have risen dramatically in the past decade. BC Government revenue from natural resources, according to annual public accounts, were these:
2001 = $3,975,000,000
2012 = $2,699,000,000
I also pointed out that, under HST, resource companies no longer pay provincial sales tax, a savings of hundreds of millions annually. Meanwhile, commodity prices have changed significantly. These changes are taken from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas.



Citzens enjoying a substantial rise in before-tax income across the past decade pay substantially higher taxes; metals and minerals extractors, despite exceptional revenue growth, pay less. By the way, Teck companies and chair Norman Keevil donated $1.14 million to the BC Liberals in recent years. Other resource companies, Goldcorp, for example, donated millions more. The return on political donations have been substantial.

It turns out that British Columbia's current revenues from natural resources are in dispute. Vaughn Palmer writes about the issue,
"[Auditor General John] Doyle's proposed treatment of the credits that government makes available to petroleum producers who drill deeper (and hence more expensive) natural gas wells.

"The credits can be used to reduce royalties paid to government from those same wells. Lately, with output slackening because of the glut of natural gas, the credit-holders have been banking them to claim in future years.

"The auditor general argues that the credits should be booked as a liability, thereby increasing the deficit by a hefty $702 million.

"The comptroller disagrees, arguing that the credits don't represent current cash paid to producers, but rather future reductions in royalty payments to government..."
Most every professional accountant in the province would agree with the Auditor General on this one, although Vaughn Palmer is not persuaded. Clearly, the government has an existing material liability owed to gas producers that will reduce revenues received in the future.

POSTED BY NORM FARRELL AT 2:05 AM
http://northerninsights.blogspot.ca

One cannot help but wonder how many other surprises await those who still believe the PST will return "as it was"
Nab

Return to PST comes with some unwelcome changes

By Paul Lidgate, Vancouver Sun December 22, 2012


With the introduction of the HST the tax on private vehicle sales went from seven per cent to 12 per cent.

Sales tax on a $25,000 vehicle jumped from $1,750 to $3,000, a $1,250 increase. This on one vehicle. Now multiply that by the number of private vehicle sales in the province.

As we get ready to "go back" to the PST, British Columbians shouldn't expect to go back to the old PST rate.

No, the provincial government is keeping the PST on private vehicle sales at 12 per cent instead of rolling it back to the seven per cent it was before.

It's sneaky, and I doubt we'll see ads touting the benefits all British Columbians enjoy by paying 12 per cent PST on a car bought from their neighbour.

This isn't what British Columbians wanted when they petitioned for a referendum to reverse the HST. What it is, however, is one more reason to vote for change next May.

.

Suspicions confirmed.... Lies, lies and more lies from the LIEberals!!

Monday, December 31, 2012
"Improved" PST will look much like HST

With less than 20 weeks before the BC election, our Liberal government continues spending tax dollars to promote themselves. It's not the first time they aimed to influence the vote with government-paid advertising. This is from an opposition press release after the 2005 vote:

"Following revelations that the Campbell government deliberately overspent its advertising budget by $7.5 million to produce pre-election ads, NDP Leader Carole James today re-iterated her call to ban all partisan advertising by government..."

Now almost eight years later, with Clark's Liberals in bigger trouble, the amounts have escalated. As Adrian Dix told The Tyee:

"People are outraged by the jobs plan advertising ... To be advertising incessantly in a week where you missed your budget targets by $500 million that you believe in balanced budgets, even by the standard people sometimes hold political advertising in, that's a big stretch. Then to have the public pay for these Liberal Party ads I think is a little much."

Not only are Liberals using tax dollars for partisan purposes, the ads make statements that are demonstrably false, such as the claim that BC leads in job creation. But, false claims are not new; they are a standard part of the BC Liberal style. When HST was announced they said it would be revenue neutral, result in lower consumer prices and create 113,000 jobs.

In fiscal 2010, the last full year under the old system, PST raised $4.7 billion. The following year, with only nine months of HST, the combined sales taxes raised $5.5 billion. That suggests almost $100 million a month extra came in under HST. Given the staff and information resources within the Ministry of Finance, you can be sure that extra money was no surprise. Truth was too inconvenient to be told.

Misinformation abounded in the government's effort to sell the new tax. The BC Chamber of Commerce interpreted the government initiated Mintz report to say there would be "A lower tax burden for consumers" through HST. It didn't bother to explain how both consumers and businesses would both save while government raised hundreds of millions extra each year. Again, truth was inconvenient.

55% of votes cast in the 2011 referendum said Yes to this question:

"Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and reinstating the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) in conjunction with the GST (Goods and Services Tax)? Yes/No"

It seems clear from the finance ministry's numbers that Liberals do not intend to reinstate PST as it was. To reinstate is to restore something to its former state. If that were planned, the expected sales tax income would be about $800 million lower than projected for the fiscal year 2013-14. People in business tell me they are expecting continuation of most exemptions enjoyed under HST. These things mean that consumers will not see a reinstated PST, they'll see a new "improved" PST that applies as widely as HST does now.

Ministry of Finance projections are at odds with a website maintained by the Finance Communications Office. http://www.pstinbc.ca says:

"If we go back to the PST/GST, the province would see a sales tax revenue loss of about $820 million in the first year. That loss would increase to $893 million in the second year and would widen each year."

Perhaps again, truth is inconvenient.


http://northerninsights.blogspot.ca/