HST is not a progressive tax

Introduction

                The HST tax is a tax that before even being implemented, faced  82% of all British Columbians opposing it.  In this article, it states that although the HST is hated for the way it was brought in after it was promised not to be and also for being what it is - a tax, that is not the main reason for the levels of opposition that it faces.  The main reason why the HST is so strongly disliked by many is because it does not carry the characteristics of a progressive tax - but rather a regressive tax.  The article states that they believe the HST to be a regressive tax because the money collected from everyday average citizens ( who do not make nearly as much as the big corporations) does not return to them in the form of improved public education, healthcare, and social services - but rather goes straight to the rich corporations and businesses.  

Connection

                In chapter 4, one of the various topics that are discussed are progressive taxes and its opposite, regressive taxes.  In many countries today, the progressive tax system is used as it aids those who earn less income to make ends meet.  What a progressive tax is is a rate of taxation based upon one's spending amount and/or income/profit amount.  For example, if a low income citizen makes $20, 000 a year, he or she would only have to face a taxation rate of 15%, while a high income citizen who makes $200, 000 a year would have to pay a rate of tax of 30%.  On the opposite spectrum of progressive tax, there is the tax that the article accuses of being; a regressive tax.  Simply put, a regressive tax is a tax that makes the average/poorer citizens pay a higher tax rate proportionate to their income or makes many more items that the lower income citizens usually purchase taxable. 

Reflection

                In my opinion, I believe that the time right now is highly inappropriate for the introduction and implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax.  At a time when economic stability is quite uncertain and thousands are in desperate need of full time jobs, I believe that it is wrong to shift the heavy burden of taxation from huge business corporation onto the everyday average Canadian struggling to make ends meet.  It is immensely incorrect to force more and more pressure against the lower income families in Canada in the form of a regressive tax - after all, how is it fair that at the end of day a multimillion dollar corporation pays less tax than a low income or average income family?

link: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/progressive/3834122/story.html