The harmonized sales tax will be going down in flames when referendum results are released at the end of the month, one poll says. Or is that going down in flame-broiled burgers?
Voters in New Westminster restaurant Burger Heaven's unofficial or "(b)unofficial" referendum poll have voted the tax down by a 2-1 margin.
By the time the poll closed Friday afternoon, 426 burger eaters had cast "yes" votes and 198 voted "no."
The question was identical to the one that appeared on HST mail-in ballots.
Service manager Steve Domaas said the poll often got his customers discussing the tax and it appears most "yes" voters were largely interested in slapping the government's hand over its handling of the HST.
"From the information we've gathered, it's not so much the HST itself that people are going against, it's the way the government brought it in, in the first place," he said. "It's like 'you forced us into it, and we're going to take it off.'"
Domaas said this was somewhat surprising. He figured, after living with the tax for more than a year, British Columbians would have gotten used to paying it.
Burger Heaven's sales dropped off by about nine to 12 per cent in the first three months after the HST's inception, but things did return to normal, he said.
Domaas said the turnout of 624 people was also surprisingly low, especially compared to past polls the restaurant has conducted when the poll typically gets more responses in less time.
"For a lot of everyday people, their view is that it's not going to affect them that much," he said. "There's a lot of people not voting at all. They're saying 'I don't care.'"
And therein lies the reason Burger Heaven conducts its (b)unofficial polls - helping to reengage British Columbians in the democratic process.
"It's very Canadian of us. We're apathetic. We don't vote enough. People don't show up. We're trying to get people interested in it again," he said.
HST referendum ballots had to be returned to Elections B.C. by 4: 30 p.m. last Friday in order to be counted. Results from the referendum are expected in late August.
www.twitter.com/ BrentRichter
