VICTORIA — British Columbians have voted to scrap their Harmonized Sales Tax, Elections BC announced Friday.

The results of the provincial referendum mean B.C. will now begin a transition back to its former provincial sales tax.

Elections BC said that 54.73 per cent of voters chose to scrap the HST in the referendum, with 45.27 per cent voting to keep it in place.

The referendum results come two years after then-B.C. premier Gordon Campbell introduced the controversial 12 per cent tax and a year after it replaced the GST and the provincial sales tax.

The BC Liberal leader announced plans to adopt the HST shortly after his government won its third straight election in May 2009.

The announcement, which directly contradicted his campaign promise, was met with widespread outrage in B.C.

Campbell said at the time that the HST was not on his radar during the election, but documents released a few months later showed that B.C. government officials had been discussing the HST with their federal counterparts before the May 2009 election.

Shocked British Columbians organized protests and demonstrations against the tax, which increased the price of goods and services such as restaurant meals, home renovations and funeral services that were previously exempt from PST.

A B.C. government panel estimated that the HST costs the average B.C. family $350 more per year.

British Columbians, led by former premier Bill Vander Zalm, launched an anti-HST petition in April 2010 to force the government to hold a referendum.

The petition was signed 10 per cent of registered voters in each of B.C.’s 85 ridings — the first petition in the province’s history to achieve the threshold needed to force a referendum.

The document, containing more than 500,000 validated signatures, was delivered to Victoria in June 2010.

Elections B.C. estimated that 1.6 million people voted in the referendum, representing about 52 per cent of the electorate.

Under the Referendum Act, one side would have to achieve more than 50 per cent support before being declared the winner. Elections officials said the chief electoral officer determines whether or not there will be a recount.

Four other Canadian provinces — Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick — also have HST.

B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon had estimated that a vote to kill the HST would cost B.C. an estimated $3-billion, $1.6-billion of which will have to be repaid to Ottawa.

An independent report into the HST has estimated it will take several years to return to the former system.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark made a last-ditch effort earlier this year to keep the HST, by introducing several “fixes.”

She vowed to lower the HST to 11 per cent in 2012 and 10 per cent in 2014, while giving one time “transition payments” of $175 to parents for each child under 18 and to seniors with “low and modest income.”

Clark became premier after outrage over the tax forced Campbell to resign in November.

The referendum vote in B.C. was marred by confusion over the wording of the referendum question: “Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST and reinstating the PST in conjunction with the GST?”

Because the HST is currently in place in B.C., residents were asked to vote “yes” to get rid of the HST or “no” to keep it.

An Ipsos Reid poll released in June showed that 55 per cent of British Columbians were confused by the question.

When shown the question, most respondents correctly understood “yes” to mean removing the HST, and “no” to mean keeping it. But eight per cent misinterpreted “yes” and “no,” and a further seven per cent said they did not know how to interpret the question.

The poll also showed that voters opposed to the HST are more likely to understand the question than those who support the tax.

The debate over the controversial tax split British Columbia politicians along party lines, with the BC Liberals in favour of the HST and the New Democratic Party against.

Experts said the results of the referendum could have a wider impact on B.C. politics.

A vote to keep the HST could prompt the Liberals to call an election before the fixed May 2013 date, experts predicted before the results were tabulated, while a vote to kill the tax could boost support for NDP leader Adrian Dix and his party.

The BC Liberals have vowed to honour the results of the HST referendum when the legislature resumes in the fall.

The voting period for the historic mail-in referendum ended on Aug. 5.

With file from Vancouver Sun

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