Investopedia explains 'Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)'
The notion of a harmonized sales tax is nothing new. In 1991, the province of Saskatchewan, under the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Grant Devine, combined its existing PST with the GST, a move that proved to be tremendously unpopular. In the general election that year, the New Democratic Party under Roy Romanow swept to a landslide victory, due at least in part to a pledge to reverse the "harmonization."
Apparently, little has changed on the public perception front. A 2010 Ipsos Reid poll, conducted on behalf of Canwest News Service and Global National, revealed that 82% of British Columbians and 74% of Ontarians opposed the government's plans to harmonize the sales tax.
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