Another Canadian Taxpayers Federation idea has made it to the floor of the BC Legislature. Right after the HST was defeated in August, your CTF floated this idea in an op/ed piece:

There is that small matter of the 300 PST collectors that were transferred to the federal government. Those collection efficiencies could be lost with a return to the PST. The government needs to start looking outside of the box. Are there ways to tweak the collection of the 62-year-old tax to make it easier for small businesses to file their returns? Could the Province outsource PST collection to the federal government, paying Ottawa for operating that system? This would relieve Victoria of having to hire back hundreds of people to collect the PST, while still giving the public what it voted for—the old PST with its numerous exemptions.

Yesterday, Kamloops-South Thompson BC Liberal MLA Kevin Krueger took up our suggestion and made the following statement in the House:

You know, I recognize who won the fight over HST. We lost. The people who were opposed won. We honestly believed that it was the best thing for British Columbia's economy, but we didn't win. But we can collaborate on a way to deal with the problem, because the member's right. That's what I hear all the time now from small business: "You've got to find a way to get back the HST, or something like it, that was good for us."

What they mean by that is the joint tax collection system, because there still are 80 percent of the goods and services that have 5 percent GST, 7 percent PST. We don't have to combine them. If we can get the federal government to continue to collect them jointly, we can save them all of that administrative overburden, and they won't have to pay $1,200 apiece for new cash registers.

This is a real longshot to happen, but at least the government is talking about it. I do note that Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie tracked down BC Finance Minister Kevin Falcon after Krueger’s speech and Falcon noted that the federal government wasn’t terribly interested in the idea: “That’s not something that the federal government has expressed any support for, so unfortunately that’s not an option for us,” said Falcon.

Still, the feds may come around and look at it as a common sense way to work with BC.

On a side note, I met with Minister Falcon on Friday to present our 2012-13 BC Budget submissions. It was a great conversation, and the Minister sounded rock-solid on his efforts to curb spending and get the budget balanced in 2013 (he had recently met with bankers, investors, and government officials in the EU and saw first hand what debt does to families, communities, and countries). The Government has a long way to go, but the signs seem positive… needless to say, we’ll be keeping a close eye on that situation as it unfolds. (By the way, I've contacted NDP leader Adrian Dix, NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston, BC Conservative leader John Cummins, and BC Green leader Jane Sterk, offering them a similar meeting, but so far they haven't taken me up on the offer.)