TailsWeLoseVille
So.
According to J. Fowlie in the VSun, the consortium of business groups that have directly benefitted from the tax shift that is the HST and who have, to the best of my knowledge, not passed along any significant aspect of their savings to the citizenry that is now paying those taxes, have decided to 'identify' members of that very same citizenry who wish to continue paying their taxes for them.
Or some such crazy thing:
"....The Smart Tax Alliance is a collection of 43 B.C. business and industry groups brought together for the sole purpose of supporting the HST, and encouraging people to vote "no" in the referendum.
The group is the official proponent for the No side, and therefore has received $250,000 in public funds to mount its campaign.It has also said it is doing fundraising to support its efforts, but has not disclosed how much it has taken in so far.
The group has created numerous videos, has produced hundreds of lawn signs and has embarked on a telephone campaign to help identify those inclined to vote in favour of the HST...."
But here's the thing....
One of our longtime readers, Jonku, was called by the fine folks from the 'Campaign Support' division of the business consortium the other day.
And according to Jonku, who is a pretty sharp guy, he figured he was being push-polled:
They called me yesterday with a poll, "Will you vote Yes to go from HST back to PST?"
First I asked who was calling ... Campaign Support, working for the Smart Tax Alliance. I inquired further and was told the STA supports the HST.
I said I would vote yes. Then the poller asked if I knew that the government was rolling back 2%, every family would gain $150,and so on. I said I did know, they hung up.
But it wasn't hard to pick up the poller's bias, since the anti-HST forces aren't push-polling, at least as far as I know.
First I asked who was calling ... Campaign Support, working for the Smart Tax Alliance. I inquired further and was told the STA supports the HST.
I said I would vote yes. Then the poller asked if I knew that the government was rolling back 2%, every family would gain $150,and so on. I said I did know, they hung up.
But it wasn't hard to pick up the poller's bias, since the anti-HST forces aren't push-polling, at least as far as I know.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Specifically, are these people stating that they are conducting a poll when they call and then asking leading questions designed to garner support for the tax shift?
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8 comments:
I had a push-poll robo call a few days ago, no humans, robo-poll...
And...They asked three questions, the robo-poll first said...Yes means to remove the HST, ..No means to retain the HST.
Then the first question..Are you in favour a 10% HST or a 12% PST/GST.
push 2 which means you will be voting no for 10% HST or push 3 which means yes for a GST/PST.
Then the robo-poll asked for age group, followed by what sex I am.
It was very misleading(not too me)
There is just no end to, the BC Liberals dirty tactics. They are really starting to offend citizens, with their pushy attitudes.
I equate them with the crap calls, of some outfit trying to scam people into buying their b.s. I just lay the phone down, and go about doing whatever i was doing at the time. They can talk their heads off, for all i care. It's their dime.
I marked my ballot, "YES" to extinguish the HST.
i am employed to this company right now for a call center. il leave my scripts bellow
Hello, I am _______________ and I'm calling from Campaign Support on behalf of the Smart Tax Alliance to get your opinion about the upcoming referendum on tax harmonization. Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST and reinstating the PST along with the GST?
Yes
Undecided
No
Refused
Hostile
Business Number
Add to DNC list
Caller Hungup
Voter Not Available
Out of Riding
Language Barrier
if they say yes
Thank you for your opinion. Did you know the provincial government has announced improvements to the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) ahead of the July 22 Referendum that will see the HST rate drop by two percentage points for all consumers by 2014, and the government will provide children and seniors with $175 cheques to transition to the new rate. At a ten percent HST rate, the average BC family will pay $120 less than under the old PST.
Yes
No
Refused
Caller Hung Up
if they say yes
End Complete
Thank you again, and have a great day/evening.
[Close survey and set disposition as Do Not Call.]
if they say no
I would just like to confirm I am speaking with....
R T Heard
Other
And do you know if other members of your household are in favour of extinguishing the HST and reinstating the PST along with the GST?
R T Heard
Add new voters
New voter
Name
Abolish HST?
New voter
Name
Abolish HST?
New voter
Name
Abolish HST?
New voter
Name
Abolish HST?
New voter
Name
Abolish HST?
New voter
Name
Abolish HST?
then
art Tax Alliance Voter ID
Thank you. Keep an eye on your mail as your mail-in referendum ballots will start arriving between June 13 and June 24. If by June 24 you don’t have your ballot, please do not hesitate to contact us
now if u wana contact me mc._shmidt@hotmail.com
This isn't by definition American-style push polling. It's pretty standard voter identification. It's no different than what political parties do in the run-up to elections. Push polling is much more overt and broader. A real push poll will hit tens of thousands in a electoral district in a short period and will usually make wildly deceptive claims, with the intent of generating a narrative. A real push poll question would say something along the lines of: "would you be more or less inclined to oppose the HST if you knew that Bill Vander Zalm had cheated on his income taxes. Push polls have nothing to do with the issue, and push pollsters wouldn't ask that many questions.
My robo-poll phone call said 10% hst but said nothing about 2014...And, I never said my robo-poll was from the dumd tax alliance...
I forget the name of the robo-poll outfit that called me, they blurted it out so quick and there was no human to talk too...
However, the robo-poll that I received was very deceptive, they used the 10% as in past tense, as if the HST was ALREADY LOWERED TO 10%.
I listened to a smart alliance clown on with Bill Good today, he was phony as a American two dollar bill.
This clown said..."Big business could write off manufacturing equipment since 2001, it`s small business that is the benficiary" snip.
Yes, I knew that about equipment write offs since 2001, but I also heard Hansen and Falcon saying that NOW business can write off equipment, the story has changed so many times.
One more thing, the clown on the bill good show said today...
"Funerals always charged 12% tax but never told their customers, people would go in, pre-pay for a funeral say $5000 dollars, it`s the funeral parlour owners who are mad, because they now have to submit the 12% tax" snip.
You clowns will say anything
Thanks very much Anons-Above...Very much appreciated.
Now, for those who see this purely as 'identification' why, exactly does the script lead with an announcement seeking the responders 'opinion' rather than just asking how they plan to vote?
Second, why, if the responder answers 'yes' to the first question, are they offered up an incomplete qualifier about the differences between the two options?
For example, why does the script not also state that if things were to revert to the previous PST/GST situation that there would, by most folks understanding also be the reinstatement of PST exemptions?
Unless, of course Mr. Falcon et al. have other ideas....
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The robo call was from Prime Contact (604 283 1504) which is a voter identification company based in Ontario; they have done work for Mayor Ford in Toronto, amongst others.
Web site: http://www.primecontact.ca/elections/whyus.php
Yup, I got a call too.
Thanks very much spellcheck.
Will follow up.....
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