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British Columbia HST Referendum, 2011
A referendum to repeal the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) was held from June 13 through August 5, 2011, in the province of British Columbia, Canada, through mail-in ballots. The measure was approved by a vote of 54.73% to 45.27%, thereby repealing the HST. [1][2][3][4]
In July 2010, British Columbia implemented a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) of 12%, replacing the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) and Goods and Services Tax (GST). Former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm, who opposed the change, collected over 700,000 signatures to qualify a referendum for a public vote in the hopes that voters would reject the HST and reinstate the PST and GST.[5]
Since a majority of voters voted yes, the PST and GST taxes were reinstated and the combined tax rate was set to remain at 12%.[6][7]
Text of measure
Ballot question
The ballot question was as follows:[7]
| “ | 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)?[8] | ” |
See also
Additional reading
- Invermere Valley Echo, "'Why I'm voting 'Yes' to scrap the HST'," June 7, 2011
- HST petition going to Elections BC early (dead link), B.C.'s anti-HST petition cleared to proceed
Footnotes
- ↑ CTV News, "B.C. voters kill the province's HST in referendum," accessed March 25, 2021
- ↑ The Vancouver Courier, "Film industry lobbying hard to keep HST," June 3, 2011
- ↑ Burnaby Now, "Politicos ramp up debate on HST referendum," June 10, 2011
- ↑ CBC News, "B.C. HST referendum set for June," March 25, 2011
- ↑ CBC, "B.C. moves to 12 per cent HST," accessed March 25, 2021
- ↑ Times Colonist, "Government ready to move forward in face of HST defeat," August 28, 2011
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wikipedia, "2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum," accessed March 25, 2011
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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