The harmonized sales tax is on the way out.
Elections BC announced last Friday that the vote in the HST referendum was 54.73 per cent Yes and 45.27 per cent No.
The vote in the Kamloops-North Thompson riding was 54.73 per cent Yes and 45.27 per cent No.
The HST combines the seven per cent provincial sales and the five per cent federal goods and service tax to a total of 12 per cent.
Proponents said it simplified tax collection for businesses because it combined two taxes in to one. Businesses could get tax credits under the HST, and fewer bureaucrats were needed to collect it.
Opponents were unhappy about how the HST was brought in - it was announced shortly after the BC Liberals’ May 2009 election, but had not been an issue during the campaign.
They also were unhappy because the HST increased the load on small taxpayers and lessened the burden on businesses.
Former premier Bill Vander Zalm and others forced a referendum on the issue through a petition drive across the province last year.
Of the province’s three million eligible voters, 54 per cent sent in a ballot on the HST question.
A simply majority was required to keep or extinguish the tax.