November 12, 2009 08:07 AM
Kim Zarzour
Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman will hold a meeting tonight to discuss concern over the province?s new Harmonized Sales Tax.
The HST, which goes into effect next July, has generated the highest volume of constituent contact his office has ever received, Mr. Shurman said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty unveiled the controversial new tax in March, which combines the 8-per-cent provincial sales tax with the 5-per-cent federal GST, which he says he hopes will strengthen the economy.
Advocates argue harmonization will reduce businesses? taxes and improve business competitiveness.
However, some items that are exempt from the provincial sales tax such as hair cuts and dry cleaning will be subject to the new tax.
The tax hits Thornhill residents, mostly single family and condo dwellers, especially hard, impacting the cost of goods and services such as electric bills, fuel bills and at the pump, Mr. Shurman said.
The HST will increase the cost of enrolling children in minor league sports because rental fees for ice rinks, baseball diamonds and soccer fields will be taxed by 8 percent, a cost that will be passed on to parents, he added.
Condominium owners will see an increases in their maintenance fees, he said, adding as the HST will be added to the services covered by those fees.
?The HST is an unfair tax grab that will significantly increase the tax burden on Ontario families who are already struggling with job losses, a slow economy and uncertain prospects for the future,? Mr. Shurman said.
A report released last week by economist and tax expert Jack Mintz stated the HST, combined with Ontario?s proposed corporate income tax cuts and other recent tax changes would create an estimated 591,000 new jobs over 10 years, increase annual incomes and boost capital investment.
Ontario?s Ministry of Finance commissioned the report by Mr. Mintz, who is the Palmer Chairperson of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.
But Mr. Shurman said the new tax is a plan by McGuinty?s Liberals ?to use our money, at a time when most of us can ill afford it, to pay down his staggering deficit and then tell us how well he?s done.?
The Tory MPP has set up a petition in protest of the HST to be read into the official records of the Legislature and on Thursday he and Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, PC Critic for Revenue and Government Accountability, will host a meeting to address the issue.
The free public meeting is scheduled for Nov. 12 at Garnet Williams Community Centre, 501 Clark Avenue West, from 7 to 9 p.m
For more information contact the Shurman constituency office at 905-731-8462 or visit www.petershurman.com.