Bike shop owner Martin Clermont says he's been selling a lot of bicycles lately as people rush to save before British Columbia's harmonized sales tax kicks in on Canada Day.

But, he said, the short-term increase in bike sales won't take away the sting of the HST, which Clermont believes will hurt his business and the B.C. economy in the long run.

"Your Joe Average consumer is paying more, because your disposable income just went down on July 1," said Clermont.

For decades, B.C. governments have held off charging the seven-per cent provincial sales tax on bicycles.

The Social Credit governments of the 1980s felt bikes were a great way to promote exercise; so did the New Democrats of the 1990s and the Liberals, up until Canada Day, agreed.

For a few more days, bike buyers will only be charged the five-per cent federal Goods and Services Tax. But as of July 1 the HST, which combines the federal GST and the provincial sales tax, will make that a 12 per cent levy on everything from bikes to funerals, haircuts and membership fees.

"The greenest form of transportation has just got kicked to the curb," said Clermont.

"I don't know what economist think-tank they're cooking with, but if you make that good more expensive, people stop buying or they slow their buying, and that slows the economy."

Not so, says Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberal government.

The government says the move to the HST is the single most important initiative it can take to ensure a strong economy.

The tax, adopted by more than 130 countries, will eliminate more than $2 billion annually in costs to B.C. businesses, stimulating investment, jobs and eventually lower prices, say the Liberals.

The tax has been the subject of intense political debate since the Liberals revealed it last July, barely two months after being re-elected to a third consecutive term. The timing caused a fury, because they did not mention the levy throughout their spring election campaign.

Critics say the HST will shift a $2 billion tax burden from business to consumers, and among the biggest critics has been former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm.

The one-time Social Credit leader has come out of political retirement to lead a grassroots charge to repeal the tax, or recall the politicians who support it.

So far, almost 700,000 British Columbians have signed the anti-HST petition.

Vander Zalm has described the public response as a "revolution" but the petition is not guaranteed to kill the HST. A Liberal-dominated committee will have to decide to either introduce repeal legislation or take it to a provincewide referendum.

The HST has already cost the Liberals one cabinet minister. Former energy minister Blair Lekstrom quit the party, saying constituents in his Fort St. John area riding want to put the HST on hold.

B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen says he's been waiting for the July 1 start date to give British Columbians the chance to see the tax at work, as opposed fighting questions about political integrity and misinterpretations of the scope of the tax.

"I've seen videos of Bill Vander Zalm's little spiel that he's been giving around the province, and in at least two cities he has used the expression: after July 1 everything is going to cost you 12 per cent more," said Hansen.

He said that's not the case. Prices will not increase for 80 per cent of goods and services, while increases are expected on 20 per cent of items, he said.

"By and large, most of the household necessities don't change," he said. "Whether it's your rent or basic food, your condo fees, health care, education, those things are primarily exempt."

Clothing, gas and home energy bills won't increase, Hansen said.

"The things that are going to change -- and I use the word carefully -- by and large are discretionary expenses," Hansen said.

Critics point out that gas prices will go up July 1 regardless, because the province's carbon tax is set to increase by almost five cents a litre that day.

John Winter, president of the B.C. chamber of commerce, said his organization has been calling on successive B.C. governments to adopt the HST, because it is a business friendly and ultimately consumer friendly tax.

Yet when the Liberals announced last July they were accepting $1.6 billion from Ottawa in exchange for adopting the HST, the chamber was caught off guard. Only recently has the organization been able to completely convince its members the tax works.

"It was badly introduced," said Winter. "There's never been an issue in my 13 years with the chamber that's consumed more of my own personal time and the time of my staff to educate our members."