B.C. HST list released

The B.C. government has released a list ofitems that will be taxed under the new Harmonized Sales Tax, afterweeks of pressure from critics of the HST.

The tax, which blends the federal Goods and Services Tax with B.C.'s provincial sales tax, comes fully into effect in July. Some items became subject to the tax May 1.

It will be applied to everything from haircuts to funeral services andmovie and theatretickets to professional sporting events, none of which was subject to the PST before.

The tax on alcoholic beverages will drop by three per cent because a special 10 per cent provincial tax drops to seven per cent in the shift to the HST.

A petition under B.C.'s Recall and Initiatives Act is underway, in which organizers hope to collect enough signatures to force a referendum on the HST law. Canvassers have until July 5 to sign up 10 per cent of the voters in each of the province's 85 ridings.

A petition organizerhad been critical of the province's apparent reluctance to provide details, butnow says the release of the listwill help his cause.

"I expect we'll get a lot more signatures now,"Chris Delaney said Friday. "As people see the actual impact of it and they realize how much it's going to cost them, they're going to realize it's worse than they thought."

B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen has accused Delaney's campaign of providing an incorrect list of what will be affected under the HST.

But Delaney said the list was incorrect only because the province had previously not provided specifics on how the HST would be applied.