Is The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) A Harmful Tax Grab?
REALTORS® are often asked how the new HST will affect the real estate transaction. When it comes to purchasing your new home there still seems to be some confusion as to what is taxable or how much more tax you will pay depending on when you purchased and when the deal closes.
You may surprised to find that we will be paying additional taxes on our heating and hydro bills starting July 1st.
In an attempt to put a positive spin on the New HST The Province claims about 83% of the goods and services we purchase will see no new tax ". While this sounds good it is only because most if not all are already double taxed and the new HST simply blends those taxes together.
That leaves about 17% of the goods and services we consume having an additional tax (grab) levied against them. Things like personal and professional services such as hairstyling, lawyers fees and real estate commissions as well as hydro and home heating fuel will all go up by 8% on July 1st
Here are just a few of the "little" things you will be paying 8% more for thanks to the HST.
Chart Information Obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Revenues web site,
you can download the full Provincial PDF version of the chart HERE.
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Kathy Clulow Sales Representative RE/MAX All-Stars Realty Inc.. Brokerage 905.852.6143
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The more I read about the HST, the less sense it's starting to make to me.
Kathy,
I feel very badly for those who are already just making ends meet and struggling from day to day...the HST is going to hit them the hardest.
Jo
Malcom - you are not alone
Jo - some of these things we can cut back on but some are basic esentials and it is those who are living with just the basics that this new tax will hurt the most
Kathy,
On a million dollar condo, (not unusal in Vancouver), even after the rebate, the extra tax is $50,000.
It's a tax grab.
Kathy,
Further, Realtors and other groups got the original limit raised from $400K to $525K, so it doesn't affect many properties where I am.
Every manufacturer I know is very pleased with the HST. I also know some real estate brokers, including myself, who are pleased with certain aspects of the HST since it reduces their cost base on business expenses (although it increases the cost on non-recoverable HST).
Terry - The tax on Real estate transactions is a definite tax grab ..... but how long will it be before we see the limits quietly lowered after all the flack dies down and people get used to "just another tax"
Marc - what ever happened to putting the customer first ..... the little bit of income tax savings gained by the ability to write off the harmonized tax is outweighed by the amount of (HST) tax the consumer has to pay with after (income) tax dollars. When all is said and done I do believe it will cost us all more in the long run.
Marc - Interesting how some can see paying a different tax as a benefit because they can write it off ..... to bad they are only interested in themselves ..... not their consumers who they should be concerned with ..... while harmonization of existing taxes may not be a bad thing the new taxes are ..... the more tax a consumer pays the less they have to spend.
There is an old saying
money was made round to go round
If every time it goes around the tax man takes an ever increasing bite
it won't be long before it stops going around.
Hi Kathy and Barrie...we're, I'm sure becoming overly tax, of course the HST is a tax grab, Barry is there not some statue in the Canadian Constitution that limits taxation? It's time we took up a tax grab cause online and put a stop to mismanagement by our Governments who only see raising taxes everytime they over spend our tax dollars.
Fred - the other side of the coin is we could stop asking the governemnt to do more things for us ..... oh wait that would likely not work either as they would just give themselves a raise for doing such a good job of controlling the rise in costs.
Kathy,
I have several businesses for sale now, all based on not being able to pay the new tax.
I suppose that they were close to the wire anyways. But, this tax has just tipped them over.
Brian
Brian - a sad state of affairs for sure
I have heard good discussion on both sides of this debate. What is hard to do is filter out the facts from the political posturing in order to get to the raw unbiased facts. One of the more recent "pro hst" pieces I saw this week was regarding BC hst (http://ff.im/-l88J7) which is happening simultaneously with ours. I think the bottom line is it will be an asset for some and a liability for others.
Mike - I don't disagree with your bottom line statement but you can bet that the consumer will end up paying more regardless of who saves what
Wait till people see how far reaching the HST is...
I think home fuel oil and gasoline will make people howl.
David - as if they aren't already expensive enough ..... one way to guarantee tax revenue is to tax things people need
Kathy:
With today being the first day of HST, I think some people will start to wake up and realize what has happened.
Ty
Ty - like closing the barn door after the horse got out ..... the line ups at the gas pumps tell us at least some are awake and aware.
Kathy, I was living in TO when the GST began and it had a huge impact on the Canadian economy....however, it is now a "given" and I am sure the HST will be the same in time. That does not help the little guy, however. They bear the brunt, as always. Pity.
Marcia - it's the hidden impact that bothers most ..... when the dollars don't go as far as they used to we will just end up spending on fewer things which will ultimately hurt everyone
The HST is good for a few and bad for most. Of course all of those industrial/manufacturing savings will be passed on to us in lower prices, of course it will......
David - in your dreams
Here we are a year later and British Columbia has just voted down their HST and will be reverting back to GST & PST. Imagine the cost of changing to HST and then back. While the change back may be due to ... umm - let's call it political misrepresentation, to be polite - on it's introduction, maybe it proves that you can fight city hall.
Peter - one voice can and often does make a difference