Waiting for the HST outcry
Posted Aug 29, 2010 06:29:03 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontarians have been quiet compared to their western counterparts when it comes to the HST. Since the tax was implemented two months ago, more than 700,000 British Columbians have signed an anti-HST petition. Here in Ontario, we seem resigned to paying the tax.
“After all, what can you do about razor blades, haircuts and a lot of the other small things that we’ve had (taxed)?” Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada, asks rhetorically. “The people of BC have seen no advantage to this (tax) at all. My organization in both provinces was one of the first to say ‘this is not good for consumers.’ And it actually has turned out very much to that effect.”
The BC petition was recently upheld by a court ruling, despite objections that the province no longer has jurisdiction over the HST because it’s a federal tax. A judge is now urging BC’s chief electoral officer to send the matter to the legislature as soon as possible.
Former BC premier Bill Vander Zalm is the province’s most vocal critic of the HST and has also launched his own court challenge of the constitutionality of the tax.
In Ontario, Cran says his organization has fielded calls almost daily from people questioning the legality of “cash deals” in a bid to beat the tax. But Cran also cites Ontario government officials whom he says have claimed surprise by any backlash to the HST.
“It was very obvious to us that people would be upset by this tax,” Cran says.
While no anti-HST petition has been launched here, Cran thinks residents of southern Ontario who take cross-border trips may find a nasty surprise the next time they travel.
Cran says books have also become burdened by the tax, including e-books that are purchased online. Go to the states and buy the book there and you’ll get taxed crossing back over the border, warns Cran.
“You discard it because there’s no real point in keeping a used book, especially on a (electronic) reader. Then you get back and you get taxed 3 bucks.”
The HST in Ontario blends the 8 per cent provincial tax with the 5 per cent GST.
