MAKE IT TEX-MEX TONIGHT TRY THESE FAJITAS WITH A TWIST {page 32} SHOW’S OVER THE QUEEN OF TALK TV SAYS GOODBYE {page 26}
LADY GAGA PROMOTES HER NEW ALBUM {page 28}
VANCOUVER
Thursday, May 26, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Hockey
HST to drop 2 percentage points: Falcon Harmonized sales tax will fall to 10 per cent by 2014 if it survives referendum PHYLICIA TORREVILLAS
VANCOUVER@METRONEWS.CA
Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates his third-period goal against the Boston Bruins yesterday in Tampa, Fla. Tampa Bay beat Boston 5-4 last night to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference final. ELIOT J. SCHECHTER/GETTY IMAGES
Lightning strikes the Boston Bruins
The Vancouver Canucks will find out who they will play in the Stanley Cup final when the Bruins and Lightning face off in Game 7 tomorrow. More coverage, page 46.
The Christy Clark government announced plans yesterday to shave two percentage points off the controversial harmonized sales tax just ahead of next month’s provincewide referendum. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon said if voters in the referendum decide to keep the HST, it will go down one point on July 1, 2012, and another point in July 2014. “We would be moving forward with an improved HST that is now good for both consumers and for B.C.’s job creators, our small business community,” Falcon told reporters yesterday. He said the provincial government is trying to ease the burden after an independent report found the HST is costing B.C. families $350 each year above what they paid with the PST-GST system. Falcon added that in order to bal-
ance its budget by 2013 and 2014, the government is looking at ways to make up for the revenue loss. To defray the costs, the government will cancel a corporate income tax cut planned for Jan. 1 of next year, and delay a proposed small business tax cut slated for April 1, 2012. But not everyone is too happy about the move. “I think what they’re trying to do is find a quick solution to a mess that was not handled very well in the first place,” said Garth Whyte, president of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. “We don’t see this as helpful at all. It’s a lose-lose.” Whyte said members of the association have reported a drop in their sales because of the HST and seen a decrease in revenue from July 2010 to January 2011. The plan, he added, won’t be enough to convince them to support the HST in the June 13 mail-in referendum.