[EXCERPT]
Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of B.C., said his organization recommended a 50-per-cent cut to the PST for two years to spur the recovery of the economy.
“That’s a bolder move than we had contemplated,” he said of the B.C. Liberals' proposal. “If the goal is to strengthen the economic recovery scenario, this, I think, would help to do that.”
He said the biggest effect of the plan would be on “consumer durables” such as furniture, non-luxury vehicles and consumer electronics, prompting people to bring forward purchases.
He acknowledged the “substantial hit to the government’s bottom line” the proposal would cause in the short run. "But we’re in an era, not just here but around the world, where previous concerns about balanced budgets and so on have really been cast aside because of the nature of the economic shock we’re facing and living through, and the severe risk we could end up in a period of economic stagnation.”
