A looming seven per cent increase in the cost of funerals has angered a local funeral services provider and his provincial association.

“We've got to let the government know that we already pay enough taxes and enough is enough, especially in a situation like this,” Dennis Kemle, manager of G.F. Oliver Funeral Chapel Ltd., said on Monday.

On July 1, the harmonized sales tax takes effect and funeral services, previously exempt from the provincial sales tax, will include the full 12 per cent HST.

“I want to let residents know this is happening and give them a chance to express their displeasure by signing a petition,” Kemle said.

The Funeral Services Association of BC (FSABC) has been lobbying the provincial government to mitigate the costs for bereaved families.

“Unlike other goods and services such as entertainment and recreational activities, the death and final care of a loved one is a legal requirement and not an option,” the FSABC has said in a letter to finance minister Colin Hansen.

Referring to the inclusion of funeral services in the HST as a “death tax”, FSABC has co-ordinated a petition campaign and started a website, www.StoptheDeathTax.org.

“I'm placing the petition in stores and offices from Yahk to Riondel,” Kemle said. “People deserve to know what their government is doing and have the opportunity to object to the added taxation.”

The petition asks: “Do you think the gshould tax the bereaved?” and “Do you support the FASBC's initiative to ask the B.C. government to give the citizens of B.C. relief on the final tax return of the deceased?”

The petition has been placed at Wynndel Foods, Mountain Park Resort, Paul's Superette, Canyon Country Store, Sirdar General Store, Destiny Bay Store, Gray Creek Store, Crawford Bay Store, Riondel Market, Yahk's Grouse Mountain Store, College of the Rockies, Family Practice Clinic, G.F. Oliver Funeral Chapel and all Creston doctors offices.