TAX NEWS - June 2010

Ontario Tax: Ontario HST relief cheques in the mail

HST relief cheques aimed at cushioning the blow of the harmonized sales tax are on their way to more than 6.5 million Ontarians.

The cheques come from the $4.3-billion given to Ontario by the federal government to merge the GST and the provincial sales tax into the HST.

The 13% HST will start being charged on July 1. Many items that were previously PST-exempt, such as gasoline and electricity, will have an additional 8% in tax applied against them.

Three cheques will be mailed to Ontarians to help defray the added costs. The next one will come in December and the last in June 2011.

Families making less than $160,000 in combined income can expect to see rebates totalling $1,000. Singles earning less than $80,000 will get a total of $300.

The cheques being mailed now will be dated June 10.

Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak has called the cheques a bribe using taxpayers' money.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has defended the cheques and the tax, saying the HST is necessary to secure jobs and investment in the province.