British Columbia and Ontario have adopted a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), combining the two separate Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Provincial Sales Tax (PST).

The harmonized tax includes some items and services which were exempt from the provincial sales tax. And there's the rub – a tax increase for many, regardless of how the government puts the "spin" on it.

No matter how vocal anyone may get, there's an underlying truth that a lot of people try to overlook. Governments respond to the needs and demands of the electorate - health care, education, roads, the list goes on.

Special interest groups lament what they claim is government "cutbacks" without a single suggestion on how to keep funding the ever-rising costs. In fact, the only "cutbacks" are the trimming of cost increases. Actual spending in health care and education is still rising.

We can argue about which is the best way to tax, the end result is we have to pay no matter how the tax is prescribed. It boils down to a form of NIMBY - "the taxes are okay, just don't make me pay".

Nobody likes paying taxes, it's just a matter of finding the best blend to meet the needs of British Columbians. Some argue that sales tax route is probably the fairest of all taxes, answering the constant demand that "the rich" should pay. You know, those who have the most spend the most, and wind up paying the most.

Meanwhile, many people are pretending outrage, demanding more spending while out of the other side of their mouth harping about budget deficits.

You can't have it both ways

The real argument is not about the tax, but about the way it was brought in by the B.C. government, first denying they were going to do it and then just weeks later presenting it as fait accompli.

They also tried to have it both ways.