TORONTO – It’s official. After news yesterday that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government would be introducing new exemptions to the harmonized sales tax (HST), Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced that printed newspapers and certain prepared foods and beverages sold for less than $4 will not be subject to the levy.
“Why did we do it? Because we’sve already been exempting this,” Duncan said. “The exemption has been in place since the sales tax was created in 1961. From our perspective, it made sense just to keep the exemption moving forward.”
According to Duncan, the government is forgoing $325 million a year that would have been collected from taxing the aforementioned products. That news is not much comfort to a number of Ontarians who balk at the thought of future gasoline or home heating fuel bills that will be affected by the new tax, which comes into effect July 1.
