[Cal]

I am starting to think that the HST is going to be a bigger hit on the wallet than I had originally anticipated.

Have received notices that my internet services will go from 5% tax to 13% as of July first. Same for health food. And these are just the notices that I received today.

Add to that rising rates.....equals alot of Kraft dinner!

 

[dogcom]

I live in BC and that cheating Liberal government lied to everyone that they would not bring in the HST two weeks before the election. They will pay big time for this horrible tax as we all sign petitions against this.

 

[Mockingbird]

I live in BC and that cheating Liberal government lied to everyone that they would not bring in the HST two weeks before the election. They will pay big time for this horrible tax as we all sign petitions against this.

Thanks for reminding me to sign that petition.

 

[the-royal-mail]

Ontario got exactly what it deserved. Remember McGuinty's 2003 election pledge not to raise taxes? Within weeks he had increased taxes by about $600-700 a year. Oh sorry, he called it a health care premium. A couple of years later, those MPP's were nice enough to vote themselves a 28% raise. In 2007, the voters had the chance to boot his a-s out for his blatant lies and what do they do? Give him another majority gov't.

Good going, Ontario. Enjoy your parade of new taxes. It's what you voted for.

 

[Ihatetaxes]

Ontario got exactly what it deserved. Remember McGuinty's 2003 election pledge not to raise taxes? Within weeks he had increased taxes by about $600-700 a year. Oh sorry, he called it a health care premium. A couple of years later, those MPP's were nice enough to vote themselves a 28% raise. In 2007, the voters had the chance to boot his a-s out for his blatant lies and what do they do? Give him another majority gov't.

Good going, Ontario. Enjoy your parade of new taxes. It's what you voted for.

I didn't vote for him so can I get an HST exemption please?

 

[redwoodave]

I think the McGuinty govt deserves kudos for making politically difficult decisions in the best interests of our provinces financial health.

 

[OhGreatGuru]

I think the McGuinty govt deserves kudos for making politically difficult decisions in the best interests of our provinces financial health.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but I agree. We have to pay for government services somehow - look where perpetual deficit financing has landed Greece and half the other countries in the EU. (I would have appreciated more honesty from the McGuinty govt., but who would get elected on a platform of "Vote for me - I will raise your taxes"?)

 

[Toronto.gal]

Good going, Ontario. Enjoy your parade of new taxes. It's what you voted for.

I'm definitely not a Liberal (well, sometimes!).

And how about David Miller's $60 Personal Vehicle Tax he hit us with 2 years ago and essentially doubling the cost of renewing a licence plate sticker from $74 ($75 if a kiosk is used) to $134!

 

[the-royal-mail]

I think the McGuinty govt deserves kudos for making politically difficult decisions in the best interests of our provinces financial health.

LMAO - glad to see humour is alive and well here at CMF. Thanks for the laugh. I needed that.

 

[Dr_V]

I don't normally delve into political discussions, but here's my take:

• I think that the HST had to be done ... It will save the federal government money (by reducing the overhead involved with collecting the GST), and this is fine by me. Hopefully some of this money will be returned to provinces and will ultimately benefit us all.

• The HST is a confusing tax. It affects almost everything but there are strange exemptions for "qualifying" foods, drugs, childcare, etc. WTF?

• I would rather that they had simply taxed everything the same BUT lowered the overall tax to X% where X% was determined (statistically) so that it "evened out" to the same overall impact (as the GST+PST) for typical families in the province. Maybe this would mean that X was 10%. Whatever, I'd be fine with that.
  • I'm fine paying more on my groceries if it means that I pay less on my <whatever else>. It would have all been the same in the end.
  • Plus, when everything is taxed the same, to me, it feels truly harmonized and easy-to-compute. No surprises.
  • Alas, that's not what we're getting ...

 

[CuriousReader]

I think the McGuinty govt deserves kudos for making politically difficult decisions in the best interests of our provinces financial health.

Lots of things have been under-funded ... of course the govt needs more money to support the public services.

Somebody have to pay for all the services the govt provide!
- St. Clair and then Bloor project that run years late and costs a lot more than estimated
- paying public union workers 6-digit salary to sit in an airconditioned room the whole day
- letting the MPs to have various pet projects with the only intention of making themselves popular and get re-voted
- eHealth ... woohoo !


I am sure there are much more expenses that we need to pay for because we've been lucky to be getting such a good public service that worth our money.

 

[Ihatetaxes]

I don't normally delve into political discussions, but here's my take:

• I would rather that they had simply taxed everything the same BUT lowered the overall tax to X% where X% was determined (statistically) so that it "evened out" to the same overall impact (as the GST+PST) for typical families in the province. Maybe this would mean that X was 10%. Whatever, I'd be fine with that.
  • I'm fine paying more on my groceries if it means that I pay less on my <whatever else>. It would have all been the same in the end.
  • Plus, when everything is taxed the same, to me, it feels truly harmonized and easy-to-compute. No surprises.
  • Alas, that's not what we're getting ...

Great idea!!

 

[dogcom]

Your welcome Mockingbird and I am glad you are signing the petition.

I think it is important as voters that we punish parties or politicians who outright lie to us.

This is the biggest reason in BC why we hate the HST. The other tax that really bugs me is the carbon tax on gas that goes to nothing and many Canadians think it is a great idea. The Liberals in BC brought the carbon tax in and then later on cut the grants to home owners that insulated their houses or got a fuel efficient furnace and so on.

 

[HaroldCrump]

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but I agree. We have to pay for government services somehow

I find it ironical that the HST comes along soon after the historical multi-million dollar bailouts for the auto sector, pension plans, substantial increases in public sector pay, giving in to union strickes (TTC, garbage workers, nurses, teachers, etc.)
I think regular ontario residents are paying for more than just public services - they are paying for the govt. political agenda and protection racket as well.

 

[dilbert789]

To top it off, now the mp's won't open their books to show Sheila Fraser their expense accounts, saying it's 'not in her mandate'.

I'm totally fine with paying the true cost for the services that we need. I hate the concept of subsidy's for different industry's as it reduces competition (look at corn in the US especially). The problem I have is that these guys are making big bucks to start with then have like $280,000 a year to spend on expenses and their offices and expect to have no oversight on what it is spent on.

 

[HaroldCrump]

And didn't the Ontario MPs give themselves over 25% pay raises for 3 years running since 2006?

 

[the-royal-mail]

And didn't the Ontario MPs give themselves over 25% pay raises for 3 years running since 2006?

Correct. They also raised the price of personalized and graphic license plates from their already-exhorbitant costs to even more outrageous costs.

Their whole platform in 2003 had to do with lambasting Ernie Eves for a deficit, yet McGuinty has done no better. One of the poorest leaders I've ever seen.

They were also raising a stink against the Conservatives back in 1999 when gas jumped to 66 cents a litre, yet they have done nothing to reduce gas prices since they've been in power. In fact, the HST will increase gas prices.

And again, the health care premium tax increase they inflicted on voters in 2003, after campaigning not to raise taxes. To date, none of that money has gone to improving schools and hospitals, like he said they desperately needed in his 2003 campaign.

 

[dogcom]

Just so you guys know BC is really on the way to screwing over Gordon Campbell. I talked to one of the HST volunteers and he said we only need 15 more ridings reaching 10% of voters and we expect to have 15% of all ridings signed up in the end. He also said Gordon is writing the legislation now to dump the HST in the ditch if he has to. I also heard that 500,000 BC voters have signed on so if we win in BC, Canada take note we can fight these idiots if we have to.

 

[Bullseye]

The CGA association wrote a good paper on the HST, stating that in the Maritimes, after the HST was implemented, prices on most goods and services did come down. I know with my own business, we'll be saving a lot of money when HST comes in, as we get to claim ITC's for things we never were able to before. In the highly competitive market we're in, businesses will pass those savings on to consumers to get an edge, and their competitors will have to follow suit.

Needless to say, I'm a big supporter of the HST. Most opposition to it seems knee-jerk to me.

 

[dilbert789]

Here's a good article on examples of what will really change, note that it's from the government of Ontario website:

http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/taxchange/pdf/taxable.pdf