How Will The Budget Affect Your Family?
Thursday March 26, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff
Fill up with gas and pay more.
Buy a coffee before work and slip a couple of extra cents from your pocket.
Take a taxi ride in while drinking it and leave an extra buck or two behind.
Go to a gym and work out some extra cash from your wallet.
Hire a gardener and don't expect a cut in his fee.
And go to an accountant to get this all figured out and pay him a little extra for his trouble.
Welcome to your life in July 2010. That's when the new harmonized tax that combines the old GST and PST into one 13 per cent entity takes effect. And it will see you paying more for a wide range of goods.
How can it cost more if the previous GST was 5 per cent and the old PST was 8 per cent? The answer is that many items were exempt from the provincial hit under the old method. But with certain exceptions, the new one forces you to pay that extra amount where you never had to before.
And that's hitting consumers right where it hurts the most - their wallets.
Most haven't had the chance to examine the provisions set out in Thursday's mega-billion dollar Ontario budget. But with an economic meltdown already dripping away their finances, they already don't like the idea.
"If there was ever a bad time, this is probably the worst time," suggests Kathy Woodrich. "People are struggling to make ends meet and you know, there's a realization that things aren't going to get better for quite a while and nickel and diming people to death, so to speak, isn't a very respectful way to deal with your constituents."
"We live on a farm and do other things and it's going to increase our costs immensely," complains Carol Baker.
So what will cost you more and what won't by Canada Day of 2010?
Here's a partial list:
Newspapers;
Magazines under subscription;
Taxi, bus, airplane and train fares;
Gasoline, diesel fuel and propane;
Residential electricity, natural gas and firewood;
Campground site fees;
Home Internet services;
Certain residential Energy Star appliances;
Vitamins;
Gym and fitness memberships;
Bicycles (and related safety equipment) costing less than $1,000;
Accounting and legal services;
Certain financial services fees;
Construction labour including home building and renovation labour;
Car towing services;
Grass cutting and snow removal services; and
Real Christmas trees purchased in December
Courtesy: Cdn. Taxpayers' Federation
Some items will remain exempt from additional taxation. Those include:
Basic groceries such as flour, sugar, spices, breads, cheese, fruits, vegetables and milk;
Prepared foods sold by an eating establishment for $4 or less;
Children's clothing, diapers or footwear costing $30 or less;
Drugs and medicine sold under a doctor's prescription;
Dry cleaning, carpet and upholstery cleaning and hairstyling, barbering and beauty treatments;
Car washing or engine shampooing
New homes under $400,000 are also off the PST list.
Houses priced between $400,000-500,000 will get a lesser break.
But purchase something even higher and you'll pay the full freight. And depending on where you are, that could add $12,000-$45,000 more to the costs.
Use a real estate agent's services and you'll get hit no matter what the house sells for.
Already have a home? Fixing it up will leave your bank account in need of repair - renovations are going to be taxed at a higher rate, too.
Feel like suing the government over all this? You guessed it - lawyers' fees will be increasing as well. "It will have an impact on the clients, that's for sure," agrees lawyer Sergio Karas. "It will make all legal services more expensive because eight per cent is a significant amount of dollars."
Still, some are relieved by the fact that several items, like diapers, have been left off the list. "Diapers and all of his supplies are very expensive, especially on maternity leave, your income is cut quite small so it would have a huge effect on us," notes new mom Kerrie Jones.
While the HST cuts costs for businesses and is something they've been lobbying for, many consumers feel they're being left in an expensive lurch during a time of extreme economic upheaval.
"The bottom line is taxes and costs continue to go up and up and up in Ontario," worries Kevin Gaudet of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation. "It's going to be a huge tax hit, especially at a difficult time."
The government knows that and is planning to soothe the wound with a one time series of three cheques worth $1,000 to families earning less than $160,000 a year, or $300 for single people whose income is less than $80,000.
But most gripe that's way too little compared to what they'll have to put out to make up for it all.
"It's an enticement to make the taxpayers think it's going to be okay, but I am sure in the end like with everything, it'll be a cost for us," assures one woman.
While you'll be paying the price in 2010, there's a chance the government could be paying one of its own the year after that if memories are short and the deficits are long. The Liberals are taking a political risk making the move, because voters well recall the promise-breaking health care levy that's still here.
And Dalton McGuinty never mentioned this latest move during the last campaign. Voters will pass judgment on the plan and his leadership when the next election arrives in the fall of 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment