The debate over British Columbia's controversial harmonized sales tax landed in court Monday, with opponents of the tax offering an old-fashioned civics lesson as they asked the court to throw it out.

Former premier Bill Vander Zalm has been fighting a fierce campaign against the HST since it was announced last year, launching a province-wide petition against the tax and a court challenge, which is being heard this week.

His lawyer argued the province trampled on the public's rights when it signed a deal with Ottawa to combine the federal and provincial sales tax, ratifying the agreement through a cabinet order rather than a vote in the legislature.

"The Constitution demands that there shall be no taxation in British Columbia without representation and consent," prominent constitutional lawyer Joe Arvay told Chief Justice Robert Bauman.

"The only way that representation and consent can be manifest is for the provincial executive to introduce the agreement in the legislative assembly for ratification following a meaningful debate."

The provincial government announced plans to adopt the HST soon after the B.C. election campaign last spring, during which the governing Liberals said they were not contemplating a switch to the new tax regime.

The HST, which took effect July 1, combines the PST and GST into a single 12 per cent tax, and applies to a long list of items that had previously been exempt from the PST.

Vander Zalm launched a petition and collected more than 700,000 signatures, enough to either force the government to send the issue back to the legislature or hold a non-binding referendum.

But that petition is on hold because of a second, competing court challenge by a coalition of business groups in support of the HST. It argues the petition is invalid because the HST is now a federal tax that can't be overturned by the province.

Arvay said the HST is the responsibility of both the province and the federal government, and each level needed to pass legislation before it could be imposed on taxpayers.

The federal government did that, but the only piece of legislation ever passed by the province was to repeal the PST, not specifically ratify the HST.

Last April, the B.C. Liberal government used its majority in the legislature to end debate on legislation that eliminated the former seven per cent PST, making way for the combined 12 per cent HST.

The vote was 46-36 in favour of eliminating the former PST. Premier Gordon Campbell was not present for the final vote.

Arvay said Ottawa has made it clear it only took steps to implement the HST because the province decided to make the switch.

Outside court, Vander Zalm, whose Social Credit government first floated the idea of a law that would allow citizens to table bills through petitions and recall politicians, suggested the HST wouldn't survive a vote in the legislature.

"Some years ago, we introduced a law that would allow the people a say, a democratic process," said Vander Zalm, who was a premier from 1986 to 1991.

"We used the democratic process to obtain the opinion of the people, and it's overwhelmingly against the new tax."

The business groups issued a news release Monday insisting their challenge of Vander Zalm's petition was about giving businesses clarity about the tax system rather than politics, and they reiterated their support for the HST.

"Knowing whether or not the HST will be the law of the land will provide the small, medium, and large businesses that make up our associations with the clarity and certainty they need to invest and expand for the future," said the news release.

"Certainty will help us create some of the 113,000 jobs expected to come as a result of harmonization by 2020."

The groups promised not to appeal if they lose their challenge.

The coalition includes the Western Convenience Stores Association; the BC Chamber of Commerce; the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association; the Council of Forest Industries; the Mining Association of B.C.; and the Coast Forest Products Association.

Kamloops Liberal Terry Lake said the all-party committee slated to examine Vander Zalm's anti-HST petition cannot legally proceed until after the court challenge is heard.

"Mr. Vander Zalm wanted the committee to essentially circumvent the chief electoral officer and take the petition from him directly, and it's clear the legislation does not allow for that to occur," said Lake. "We're not trying to stall the process. We are simply bound by the legislation."

Vander Zalm called on the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives to start working on the petition despite the business lobby's court challenge.

The committee will eventually decide to refer Vander Zalm's petition to a vote in the legislature or put the matter before British Columbians in a referendum-like vote, but both measures are non-binding.