Ontario’s Revenue Minister says the new HST will mean more dollars in the pockets of local manufacturer’s.
John Wilkinson tells Bayshore Broadcasting News most jurisdictions around the world have only one sales tax, and they have a sales tax that’s not embedded in the price of goods and services.
He says that’s exactly what Ontario is going to do when the HST kicks in July 1st.
Wilkinson used a forklift analogy to explain how it works.
He says in Ontario — a company may own and operate only one forklift, but today’s governments have three different ways of taxing them for it.
He says there’s a set of rules under the GST that says the company pays the tax, but they get it all back.
And the province’s system says sometimes the business pays PST, and sometimes they don’t — and businesses are the ones responsible for trying to sort that out.
Under the new system, Wilkinson says it will be based on the GST rules — which is what the HST really is.
As for how the HST helps the consumer, Wilkinson says it’s jobs.
He believes that the HST will allow businesses to be more competitive and go back to hiring.
Wilkinson made his comments while touring Composotech in Goderich on Friday.
Among other things, Composotech refurbishes large scale wind turbine blades.
