Open Letter to Premier of Ontario

The Honourable Dalton McGuinty

Premier of Ontario

Room 281, Main Legislative Building

Queen’s Park

Toronto, ON M7A 1A1

Dear Mr. McGuinty:

I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of Directors and residents of our Condominium Corporation in Mississauga to express our concerns regarding the proposed Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).

As a board we will be advising our residents of the financial burden the proposed HST will place on them. We have prepared a table for our residents to help them understand the financial impact on their condo fees. This table represents our current year’s budget with the comparative numbers if the HST were in place today.

There are XXX townhouses in our corporation, therefore, the $XX,371 dollar increase equates to an increase in each resident’s maintenance fee of $333.71 annually! Many of our residents are seniors and on fixed incomes. The additional cost burden will likely mean some could lose their homes as a result of this additional financial burden. It should be noted that our townhouse owners pay for their own utilities and service contracts for maintenance and repairs to the inside of the units. Accordingly, the impact noted above is only part of the total increase our residents will face, as a result of the proposed HST, when these additional expenses are factored into the annual carrying costs of their homes

We understand and appreciate the benefits and advantage of blending the GST and PST, however your proposal goes well beyond this and proposes to apply the provincial tax to those items not presently subject to PST. Some have already argued this is a provincial “tax grab: coming at a time when many citizens are facing job losses, loss of investment incomes and a continued weak economy. If we understand correctly, your government is not only harmonizing the two taxes but applying an additional tax to items not subject to the current 8% PST. We hope we have grossly misunderstood the HST proposal and we ask that you immediately commence a process to truly “harmonize” the taxes without obscene tax increases.

We respectfully await your response.

Sincerely,

President

On behalf of the Board of Directors

David Pylyp; This type of lament is becoming more common as people realise the impact that Harmonized Sales Tax will have on the overall expenditures of everything that is purchased, sold or serviced and even insured.