Not everyone is against the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax).

Spokesmen for the mining industry, in reaction to the provincial budget brought down last week, have had a few kind words for the controversial tax.

“Implementation of the HST is one of the most important and innovative tax reforms the government could bring forward,” said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO of the Mining Association of BC (MABC).

“The HST will improve B.C.’s tax competiveness, attract new investment, improve productivity and create jobs. To proceed with implementation despite some public concern is the right thing to do for British Columbia,” Gratton said.

He said the MABC was also glad to see the budget’s renewal of the flow-through tax share credit for another three years and the fiscal prudence the budget exhibited

However the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) was not as sanguine about the budget, expressing dismay over cuts to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and petroleum Resources.

“Over the next three years, the Ministry of Finance expects to earn $1.15 billion in revenue from the metal, coal and minerals sector,” said AME BC President and CEO Gavin Dirom. “Yet despite this significant revenue generation, which helps to pay for health and education services in the province, the government has chosen to cut the budget of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources by approximately 14 per cent.”

Dirom said this follows a cut of four per cent in 2009. Cutting $13 million over the next three years out of a budget that’s expected to generate $2.3 billion in 2010-2011 alone is a key concern to the mineral exploration sector, he said.

However, like the MABC, the AME BC also favours the HST, said Byng Giraud Vice President of Corporate Affairs for the company. “For us, it’s not one of our first priorities, but for exploration companies it’s a positive.”

AME BC did a special study of the proposed tax and concluded it would be good for the mineral exploration industry, Giraud said.

According to the study, mineral exploration companies and prospectors will benefit from the elimination of embedded Provincial Sales Tax (PST) in the products they purchase including heavy equipment and services.

The HST, which will merge the provincial sales tax (PST) and the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) into one harmonized tax is expected to be passed in the current session of the B.C. Legislature.

The new tax is supposed to be revenue neutral, but many groups, organizations and businesses in the province have expressed strong scepticism about the claim, especially in the hospitality industry.

The tax will also apply to items like restaurant meals, cable TV, legal fees, haircuts, bicycle purchases, funerals and other services that weren’t taxed previously or were not taxed as much.

Former B.C Premier Bill Vander Zalm has launched a campaign against the tax and has been certified by Elections BC to begin collecting signatures for a petition to stop the tax April 6.

“The citizen's Initiative petition is our first move and it is the people's opportunity to tell the governments that we are still a democracy and not totally an elected dictatorship,” Vander Zalm said. “The Initiative is also the people's opportunity to kill the HST.”