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British Columbia demands retailers like Costco hand over client info on purchases
They want to force people living in BC to pay BC sales tax even if they buy in alberta.
I think its time to direct people to the quote in my signature at the bottem.
| quote: | B.C. government announces review of cross-boundary sales tax issue TERRI THEODORE
Thu Jan 19, 10:20 PM ET
VANCOUVER (CP) - British Columbia will review the tax administration system and questions about fairness after a storm of criticism over its plan to catch sales-tax dodgers who live along the provincial boundary with Alberta.
"What I want to have reviewed is this whole situation from start to finish," Revenue Minister Rick Thorpe said Thursday. He's given his ministry staff one week to complete the job. The review comes after wholesale giant Costco filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court to try and stop the province from demanding its client information.
The government asked for the names of B.C. residents and the dollar value of purchases they made in Alberta stores. By shopping in Alberta, the residents avoid paying the seven per cent sales tax in B.C.
"We do have border communities that have told us time and time again about making sure British Columbians who are purchasing high value items . . . are paying taxes," Thorpe said.
The government already rejected an idea from boundary communities to have a graduated lower sales tax as a shopper gets closer to Alberta.
The city of Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. is a 90-minute drive from the nearest Alberta Costco location.
"If we reduce the amount of tax on the communities closest to the border, that issue will resolve itself," said Dawson Creek councillor Alvin Stedel.
He was part of the PST Project, designed to find solutions to the cross-boundary shopping problem.
Estimates done six years ago suggest B.C. communities along the boundary lose about $230 million in sales to Alberta.
Thorpe said the government also loses about $12 million in unpaid taxes, but it collects the same amount from people who purchase goods in Alberta and mail in their tax cheque to the B.C. government.
He also said about 97 per cent of B.C. shoppers actually do pay that extra seven per cent when they return.
Stedel is more skeptical.
"I would like to see that in black and white. Most people that do that don't really know where to even pay their taxes," he said.
Thorpe said the government makes too much money to drop the sales tax so that businesses near the provincial boundary in B.C. can compete with Alberta.
"That's $4 billion and our government reduced taxes 33 times," he said "In fact, what people are saying is that sales tax is probably the best tax to have."
Stedel argues the graduated tax idea wouldn't cost British Columbia taxpayers.
"The government and all the taxpayers are not getting anything out of the money that's being spent in Alberta," he said.
"We're just trying to repatriate some of that back."
The minister refused to talk about the Costco petition directly saying it was before the courts. However, Thorpe said the privacy of any names handed over would be thoroughly protected.
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| quote: | Originally posted by jester
Everything in this country is illegal. |
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill
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