Provincial Green leader Jane Sterk is suggesting a 10-percent harmonized sales tax instead of the 12-percent HST that the B.C. Liberal government intends to bring in by July 2010.

A B.C. Green party media release issued today (August 21) didn’t explain how Sterk arrived at her 10-percent recommendation.

But the same release noted: “Consumers will bear the brunt of the additional tax on previously exempt goods and services.”

Greens are supportive of a harmonized tax that combines the provincial sales tax and the federal goods-and-services tax.

The release reads in part:

Greens think the single tax can reduce the cost of collection and the incidence of double taxation. Currently, some things that people buy include a hidden double tax because companies purchase components on which they pay PST and they have to build that 7% into the price of the final good or service. Not only is that 7% passed on to consumers as part of the price but they are also charged PST on the total. Under tax harmonization, businesses can claim back that first round of PST and reduce costs to consumers.