For immediate release:
September 29, 2009

HST hits just keep on comin’
Hockey families, CFIB, OREA latest to bear 13 per cent impact

Queen’s Park – The costly impact of Dalton’s sales tax gambit is getting a failing grade from consumers and businesses alike.

Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett says the more people hear about the harmonized sales tax (HST), the more they don’t like it.

“In recent days, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) have issued releases underlining their concerns with the impact of the HST,” Barrett said. “Clearly an economic downturn is no time to force people already struggling to make ends meet dig deeper in our pockets to pay this 13 per cent tax on just about everything.”

A CFIB survey titled, Look before you Leap, indicates 75 per cent of respondents expressed concerns over charging higher tax rates, with 44 per cent anticipating subsequent growth in the underground economy. Meantime, OREA is highlighting the threat posed to the affordability of home ownership, and categorizing the HST initiative as a government, “tax grab.”

“I question why the McGuinty government would move forward with this tax hike without first hearing from organizations like the CFIB, and OREA,” stated Barrett. “And what about listening to the people of Ontario who are calling out en masse for this hare-brained scheme to be repealed?”

Barrett went on to point out that Hockey parents are the latest to understand the impact of what will be coming with the HST hike, noting that minor sports associations will be forced to pass along increased costs of rec facility rentals when the tax takes effect next year.

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For more information please contact
MPP Toby Barrett at 1-800-903-8629