As of July 1, 2010, Ontarians will pay a blended tax of 13 per cent on hundreds of items that had previously been subject to only the 5 per cent GST. That move will boost the price of such items as gasoline, heating fuel, fast food, newspapers, magazines, taxi fares, dry cleaning and new homes costing more than $400,000, among other things.

Some sample items we will all be paying an extra 8% on: Management fees associated with investment products, including mutual fund administration, legal fees, accounting fees, real estate agent commissions,renovation services: kitchens, basements,driveways,fences,swimming pools, patios) land survey reports, home inspections, house cleaning, hydro, yes your electricity&water, heating(natural gas), internet,Funeral services,Gasoline, Tobacco, Taxis,golf green fees, newspapers,gym memberships, veterinarian fees and medicines for pets, vitamins & homeoopathic supplements, Security alarm monitoring, Drive clean tests, Medical equipment, Landscaping services Car insurance Supplemental health services like massage, naturopaths, acupuncture, physiotherapy, The impact on condominiums is so severe that most condo corps will likely have to raise their fees by 8% next year as every major component of their expenditures will be affected.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/644600
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Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to use taxpayers' dollars to sell his controversial 13 per cent harmonized sales tax to Ontarians, sources told the Toronto Star.

But first the Liberals must skirt McGuinty's own law against partisan government advertising.

Insiders say the government plans to go on the offensive with an advertising blitz to convince a skeptical public that streamlining the 8 per cent provincial sales tax and the 5 per cent federal GST will help recession-battered businesses.

The multimedia campaign would also highlight how benefits from tax harmonization could be passed on to consumers, and publicize the "rebate" cheques of up to $1,000 that will be mailed to most Ontario households.

As of July 1, 2010, Ontarians will pay a blended tax of 13 per cent on hundreds of items that had previously been subject to only the 5 per cent GST. That move will boost the price of such items as gasoline, heating fuel, fast food, newspapers, magazines, taxi fares, dry cleaning and new homes costing more than $400,000, among other things.

To get around the 2004 law banning ads that "promote the partisan political interests of the governing party," the Liberals are quietly lobbying Auditor General Jim McCarter, who enforces it.

They are hoping McCarter will allow a publicly funded "informational" campaign outlining the details of the new levy.

The ads would let people know some items will be exempted from the HST and continue to be subject only to the GST – including books, feminine hygiene products, diapers and children's clothing.

It's unclear what the budget for the advertising campaign would be, or when it would be launched.

McGuinty, who has even endured criticism from within his government for foisting the tax on Ontarians during an economic slowdown, is eager to begin touting the HST.

"I'll be looking forward to talking to Ontarians a lot more about that between now and the date that the single sales tax comes into effect," he told reporters yesterday.

McGuinty, who has watched the government's deficit projection balloon to $18.5 billion from $14.1 billion in a week, said only his administration has had the courage to meld the taxes.

"Line up all past finance ministers of all parties and ask them: `What should you have done? What did you know all along needed doing, but you were afraid, you resisted because of the political challenge of it?' I understand that," he said.

"Everybody knows you have to move to a single sales tax. Everybody's known that for a long, long time," he said.


"The good news is 130 other countries are there and so are four other provinces (Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland). We're just going to have to give our businesses in Ontario the same advantage that they enjoy in other countries. We're going to have to level the playing field so that they can be more competitive and hire more of us."

Interim Progressive Conservative Leader Bob Runciman predicted the more people know about the tax, the less they will like it.

"People will understand it ... when they start to pay the bill. That's why they're pondering hiding it," said Runciman, referring to discussion in the government on building the HST into prices.


NDP Leader Andrea Horwath last month exposed a Liberal bid to water down the advertising ban by burying an amendment in the March 26 budget bill.

While that proposed change was quickly abandoned, Horwath warned on May 12 that an HST marketing push was looming. She said yesterday "it's absolutely not the time" to impose a new consumption tax. "People today cannot afford 8 per cent more. Next year, they will not be able to afford 8 per cent more," said Horwath.

Outlawing taxpayer-funded partisan political advertising was a cornerstone promise of McGuinty's 2003 election campaign.

Against the advice of some senior Liberal strategists, who feared it would tie their hands once in power, he pledged to ban the practice after, by McGuinty's own oft-repeated estimate, the previous Tory governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves spent $400 million in public money promoting their initiatives from 1995 to 2003.

Critics objected in 2003, for example, to the government airing TV ads in U.S. border cities showing Eves calling for investment in Ontario, knowing the ads would be seen in homes on the Ontario side of the border. Similar ads featuring Harris were aired just prior to the 1999 election campaign.

Also coming under fire were colour pamphlets mailed to 4 million Ontario homes, featuring photographs of Eves and his ministers, offering health-care and budget information and extolling government accomplishments.