Update, August 26, 2011:
The people of B.C. have rejected the hated HST.
The Liberals say it will take 18 months to reinstate the PST/GST system. Will that include the exemption on bicycles that they scrapped with the imposition of the HST?
This is a bit last minute, but if you resent the new tax on bikes this is your chance to add your voice to the protest tomorrow.
New Democrat MLA Lana Popham, has done a tremendous job of organizing on this issue–and most of the following post is lifted verbatim from her news release. Last year’s anti-HST rally drew 500 people to the legislature and Popham submitted a petition to the Speaker of the House with over 5000 signatories.
For thirty years, bikes (and bike expenses like repairs, helmets and locks) were PST exempt. Why? Because it makes no sense to tax such a healthy and environmentally-friendly form of transportation. The HST ended the exemption and in effect created a new 7% tax on cycling.
With the HST referendum ongoing, now is the time for cyclists to again come together and send a strong message: Vote YES to extinguish the HST on bikes in BC!
The rally starts at 11am sharp at Performance Cycles, 3949 Quadra St. We’ll pick up riders along the way, with stops at Ryder’s Cycles, Straight-Up Cycles and North Park Bikes. (Click here to see the route.)
The rally finishes at Capital City Cycles, 1419 Broad St, at 12pm with a few short speeches by leaders in the cycling and anti-HST community.
And how does a new tax on cycling possibly advance B.C.’s Climate Action Plan? Getting people out of their cars and onto their bikes will reduce carbon emissions. It also means less traffic congestion, less wear and tear on our roads and lower health-care costs.
A government that increases taxes on green transportation is traveling in the wrong direction. Let’s help turn this thing around!
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In Ireland for many years we have had a 21% value added tax VAT on bicycles and related items and repairs. We don’t get to vote on such tax related issues.
Conor, this government would have liked it better if we didn’t get to have a say, but the introduction of this regressive tax–that moves the burden from corporations to ordinary citizens and adds taxes to previously exempt items (bikes as an example)–created such a huge outcry that they had to promise a referendum just to hold on to power.
This issue was literally the last straw that brought down the premier, now replaced with a “kinder, gentler” version of the same ilk.
We’re now paying for a disingenuous ad campaign (featuring cartoon stick people who discover “the government is listening”) to convince us to say “no,” which in their topsy-turvy world means yes to the HST.
We do get to vote on European Treaties which allow the EU to expand, and are one of a few countries in the EU who have that right. Sadly whenever we have had referendums on EU treaties and voted NO, however if the big boys in the EU don’t like the result they insist that we vote again until we give the answer they want, how very democratic.
The latest example was in 2009 when 65% voted NO to the Lisbon treaty in June, however that was not the desired result and following a great deal of scare mongering we got to vote again and it passed with about 52% of the vote. The sad or funny part is that we were told that if we voted NO the country would fall apart, this was the scare tactic to get the YES vote desired, so the majority voted YES and the country is still falling apart.
The only conclusion can be don’t listen to politicians, they are only in it for what they can get out of it.
With a provincial election October 6 in Ontario, the only thing being mentioned by the opposition (PC & NDP) is to remove it on certain items.
We only had 4 or 5 years of PST free bikes and accessories. Once the HST came in we lost it.
As it stands now, Ontario is better off with what we have in though (Liberals).
PC’s will completely destroy this province with their scrapping of Green energy (wind & solar), the building of a new highway through green space and an overall dunce of a leader. Plus he comes off as anti-bike so it wouldn’t surprise me he puts in things to make cycling more difficult and less enjoyable.
The NDP I’ll always fear as Provincially they tend to favour helmet laws, and the last time the NDP was in power in Ontario we nearly had one put in.
Plus they want to take the HST off of gasoline…Actually that seems to be their main concern is making driving more affordable.
Sad thing for ONT is that it looks like the PC’s will win in a landslide…After all Rob Ford won by playing on peoples “war on cars” BS, and Hudak wants to make it easier for people to get around by car.
Sometimes one wonders if there really are any alternative courses in the present political landscape.
Some suggest the NDP & Liberals should merge, however when I look at the “big 3” political parties in this country, I’d argue we need more parties not fewer…or it’s time for people to actually look at the Green Party as a viable option.
I’m not so sure the Green Party is up to the job at the moment and I distrust some of their policies.
I have a close friend who was an important part of shaping the party in the early days. I’m not so sure he’s happy about their present direction.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
I do not know where the Green Party of Canada (GPC) or the Green Party of BC (GPBC) stand on the HST specifically, but I can tell you that their policies are online and available. I do not have time to research it at the moment, but can tell you that the Green Party states concisely, “Tax bads, not goods”. Bads would include unsustainable energies, externalities of industry, et cetera; and the “goods” would be things that make a positive contribution to the triple bottom line [economic, social, environmental] aka “Full Cost Accounting”.
The “Global Green Charter” is an excellent place to learn more about Green Party principles on which Green Parties base their policies. Miles of smiles… John
Though Jane Sterk attended the original rally against the HST on bikes (see link in article above), it would appear from this article on the BC Greens site she is voting “yes” to keep the HST.
A party resolution to support a “yes” vote against the tax was rejected by three-quarters of party voters.
My issue is I’ve never been completely to the left or completely to the right…I’ve always been more in the centre, which leaves the Liberals and Green’s as the only viable options for me.
I’m not happy with the Liberals in Ontario, although many of their policies I fully support.
This has been a vexing question, as the Green Party has waxed and waned in North America.
The so-called “Turtles and Teamsters” alliance that we first saw in Seattle, in 1999, was short lived.
In British Columbia, as the Green Party gained traction, a strong reaction came from the traditional left as it appeared the green vote might take support away from the NDP. In 2001, I responded to one such broadside with an opinion piece for rabble.ca (if you can overlook the terrible formatting introduced when they archived it).
We have indeed seen vote-splitting that has allowed corporatist rule to prevail. We have also seen left-leaning voters with environmental concerns swayed by green politicians, only to find neoliberal economic policies hiding under the turf.
The challenge remains: are unions and the workers they represent willing to transition to green economies? For auto workers this remains a pertinent question, for 10 years after I posed it, it becomes clearer that mass car culture is nearing its finale.
The answer lies in transition to alternate fuels and public transportation. There should be plenty of jobs in these new, 21st century industries.
Meanwhile, the lessons that brought unionists and environmentalists together in the dying days of the 20th century are still there to see: the economic status quo–under which we all labour–serves no one but the corporatists in the short term, and dooms us all in the long term.
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