Maybe it’s because it was a big news day for July. Maybe it’s because many folks are on holidays. Or maybe it’s because we won’t feel it for another year.

But Premier Gordon Campbell is wrong if he thinks no one cares.

Beginning next July the seven-percent provincial sales tax and the five-per-cent goods and services tax will be folded into one mega-tax: the harmonized sales tax. Cash registers around the province will be ringing up the 12-per-cent HST on anything that triggers one of the previous two taxes.

In other words, items previously exempt from the PST—restaurant meals, cable TV, school supplies, movie tickets and home renovation contracting services, to name a few—will all be subject to the HST.

So what part of this is good for taxpayers?

It streamlines tax accounting, we hear. But don’t businesses and government already have systems in place to manage two taxes?

This is a ridiculous cash grab, plain and simple, sold to taxpayers as a way to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiencies.

So will any of this new windfall return to your pockets? Don’t hold your breath. Campbell has already scoffed at copying Ontario.

That province is already shifting to an HST system, but the government has offered to soften the blow by giving families $1,000 rebate and singles $300—amounts that surely won’t cover the added expenses over time.

The fact the provincial Liberals refused to come clean during May’s election that they were planning this tax will only make the public loathe politicians even more. The HST would have become a huge election issue due to its ability to take dollars out of voters’ pockets every day.

So who’s taking notice? Former premier and Richmond MLA Bill Vander Zalm, for starters. He isn’t yet calling for a revolt, but he is calling for normally calm British Columbians to protest.

More unexplained taxes? The HST is worth protesting.