Implemented in 2010, the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) was a tax that combined the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) with the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST), and included taxing transactions not previously taxed.
Under the provincial Recall and Initiative Act, 1996, a petition in favour of reversing the HST received signatures from over 10 percent of registered voters in each of British Columbia's electoral districts, therefore sending the petition to the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives - a parliamentary committee of the Legislative Assembly. The petition was then sent for judicial review where it was ruled valid, and the Committee gave Elections B.C. the task of conducting a provincial referendum (a type of popular vote on a specific issue or topic) on the HST through a mail-in ballot.
The referendum was held in the summer of 2011. It required a simple majority of 50 percent plus 1 to determine the fate of the HST. Of the 1,613,102 ballots returned to Elections B.C., 881,198 (54.73 percent) were in favour of removing the tax. This marked the first time in B.C. history that a successful petition had a significant impact on policy making.
