HST will Exacerbate Gender Inequality
Posted: Aug 18th, 2009
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And, guess what? It'll exacerbate class inequality, too.
Some governments think that the summer is a great time to introduce unpopular policies, that the nice weather and the legislative recess will stop people from getting too angry. It may have worked in the past, but I’m certainly seeing a lot of people angry about BC’s new Harmonized Sales Tax.
Few issues have galvanized so many British Columbians, with a recent Ipsos Reid poll showing 85% oppose the new sales tax, which will replace the GST and PST with a single 12% levy. Much of the opposition is to the fact that many goods and services currently exempt from PST would now be taxable. I’m not sure who thought that putting more tax on energy-efficient home upgrades and even bicycles was a good idea when we’re trying to tackle climate change. Are we maybe supposed to pay the carbon tax, get our rebate, then use the rebate to pay the HST on our bikes?
All these changes will shift the tax burden from businesses to consumers, and hit lower and middle-income British Columbians hardest, especially women. This is because the lower your income, the greater percentage of it will go into HST charges. In New Brunswick, women’s groups argued the HST would increase gender inequality by failing to acknowledge the income gap between men and women. The same point must be considered in BC.
But the specific items no longer exempted also play a role in showing this to be a regressive tax. Increased taxes on household and children’s items like school supplies will be felt most by single-parent families, and 81% of Vancouver’s approximately 88,000 single-parent families are women-headed. And while it may seem like a minor issue, making haircuts non-exempt will also have an unequal gender impact, given that even basic women’s haircuts are costlier and will incur more taxes than men’s.Taken together, all these small increases will make up a big hit to women's pocketbooks.
And what about jobs? Although Gordon Campbell claims to have businesses onside, employers in the restaurant and hospitality industry are warning they may have to let staff go if consumers cut back on restaurant meals, which will not be HST-exempt.
Women make up a majority of employees in Vancouver’s food service industry, so at least on one front so far it looks like women will bear the brunt of HST-related job losses.
Finance Minister Colin Hansen argues “you cannot design a tax system based on a popularity contest.” But that’s no reason to put forward a bad tax system, and there’s no question about it: the HST is bad policy. I guess the BC Liberals decided the contest they wanted to compete in was the lesser-known Regressive Tax That Penalizes Women and the Poor and Discourages Green Spending Contest. Good news, boys: you won. Bad news: the rest of us lose.
Some governments think that the summer is a great time to introduce unpopular policies, that the nice weather and the legislative recess will stop people from getting too angry. It may have worked in the past, but I’m certainly seeing a lot of people angry about BC’s new Harmonized Sales Tax.
Few issues have galvanized so many British Columbians, with a recent Ipsos Reid poll showing 85% oppose the new sales tax, which will replace the GST and PST with a single 12% levy. Much of the opposition is to the fact that many goods and services currently exempt from PST would now be taxable. I’m not sure who thought that putting more tax on energy-efficient home upgrades and even bicycles was a good idea when we’re trying to tackle climate change. Are we maybe supposed to pay the carbon tax, get our rebate, then use the rebate to pay the HST on our bikes?
All these changes will shift the tax burden from businesses to consumers, and hit lower and middle-income British Columbians hardest, especially women. This is because the lower your income, the greater percentage of it will go into HST charges. In New Brunswick, women’s groups argued the HST would increase gender inequality by failing to acknowledge the income gap between men and women. The same point must be considered in BC.
But the specific items no longer exempted also play a role in showing this to be a regressive tax. Increased taxes on household and children’s items like school supplies will be felt most by single-parent families, and 81% of Vancouver’s approximately 88,000 single-parent families are women-headed. And while it may seem like a minor issue, making haircuts non-exempt will also have an unequal gender impact, given that even basic women’s haircuts are costlier and will incur more taxes than men’s.Taken together, all these small increases will make up a big hit to women's pocketbooks.
And what about jobs? Although Gordon Campbell claims to have businesses onside, employers in the restaurant and hospitality industry are warning they may have to let staff go if consumers cut back on restaurant meals, which will not be HST-exempt.
Women make up a majority of employees in Vancouver’s food service industry, so at least on one front so far it looks like women will bear the brunt of HST-related job losses.
Finance Minister Colin Hansen argues “you cannot design a tax system based on a popularity contest.” But that’s no reason to put forward a bad tax system, and there’s no question about it: the HST is bad policy. I guess the BC Liberals decided the contest they wanted to compete in was the lesser-known Regressive Tax That Penalizes Women and the Poor and Discourages Green Spending Contest. Good news, boys: you won. Bad news: the rest of us lose.
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Jarrah Hodge
Jarrah Hodge is a local blogger with a strong background in politics and women's studies. Her writing applies a gender lens to current events and Vancouver happenings.
