What do you think of the Harmonized Sales Tax
Author: Bernice McNutt // Category: Durham Region Real EstateThe new harmonized tax - which adds an extra eight per cent PST to plenty of items previously exempt – takes effect on July 1, 2010. Under the new tax regimen, selected items traditionally exempte4d from the 8 per cent PST will continue to only be taxed at the 5 per cent GST rate. This includes buyers of new homes under $400,000. Those buying a new home from $400,000 to $500,000 can claim a proportional tax credit and for homes priced over $500,000, well, you’re out of luck. Those of you buying a resale home will not have to pay tax on the purchase price of the home. But plenty of other items will be taxed at the new rate. Commissions, lawyer fees, bank fees, appraisals and home inspections will all cost you more money. To offset the fact that taxes will rise on nearly everything, families earning $160,000 or less annually will receive up to a $1,000 cheque from the government.
There have been media reports about Liberal back bencher MPPs pushing back against their own premier on this. Some think they can have the decision reversed before the July 1, 2010 inception date.
Not all people oppose the tax though. Other provinces – Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland – already have the combined tax. Businesses welcome the new tax as it is expected to save corporate Ontario $500 million a year in paperwork costs alone!
So where do you stand on this issue? If you agree with the new tax, great! Don’t do anything and the tax will come into effect on July 1, 2010. If you don’t agree, join others in trying to have the tax reversed before it starts. Either way, make your opinion known. Contact your MPP. If you oppose, you can check out my previous post on this subject and use the automatic form provided by OREA to submit your thoughts to your MPP.
Tags: bowmanville real estate, courtice real estate, oshawa real estate, whitby real estate
May 29th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Hey Bernice, this new tax has got me hopping mad! Now, of all times, is the absolute wrong time to be introducing hefty new taxes. I’m glad you too are encouraging people to contact their MPP on this issue should they feel it’s an unwarranted and unwise new tax. I’ve also written about this on my blog: http://ocreblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/tax-harmonization-in-ontario-big-grab.html
I’ve included links to the government site on the HST and a pamphlet put out by the OHBA.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:12 am
Nice article found your site searching in yahoo I think you could have taken a more neutral view.