Cindy Baird says she has documentation to show HST wll hurt Islanders.Cindy Baird says she has documentation to show HST wll hurt Islanders. (CBC)

A group campaigning against the harmonized sales tax wants to ask the P.E.I. Supreme Court to stop the introduction of the new tax until Islanders are given a say.

Islanders Against HST says Robert Ghiz's Liberal Party promised before the October 2011 election that it would not bring in the tax.

While some candidates said during the election campaign there would be no HST, Ghiz himself was more conditional. He said HST was a possibility with an acceptable offer of compensation from the federal government. A few months after the election, the Liberals announced it was introducing HST on April 1 of this year.

Group spokeswoman Cindy Baird said a plebiscite should be held to determine if Islanders believe the government's assurances that people will be better off with the new tax.

"Our documentation, our proof, which is what we're going to submit to the Supreme Court, actually says the opposite," said Baird.

"We have families, we have people, we have all this documentation, we have this data and it shows categorically, these people will be affected by this."

Baird said her group plans to raise money for the legal challenge, which could be filed later this month.

No government would hold a plebiscite on a new tax, says Finance Minister Wes Sheridan.No government would hold a plebiscite on a new tax, says Finance Minister Wes Sheridan. (CBC)

Finance Minister Wes Sheridan said the government has no intention of holding a plebiscite on the controversial tax.

"If we had to go to a plebiscite on building a school or building a hospital, we would never get any work done," said Sheridan.

"No one wants a new tax, so you will not see plebiscites on that type of an item going forward in any jurisdiction."

Sheridan said if the province does end up in court, it would argue strongly that the new tax will benefit Islanders.

For mobile device users: Should P.E.I. hold a plebiscite over whether to introduce the HST?