HST break for Home builders and Buyers, but not much for the masses
Unless you`re in the market for a new home, Thursday`s announcement of a bigger HST break on new homes might have you asking, "Why not something for me?"
If so, you`ve got company. There are lots of other losers. They include those whose issue is the cost of restaurant meals, bus tours, funerals, crash helmets, life jackets, first-aid kits, smoke detectors, energy-conservation equipment, non-prescription drugs, bikes, school supplies (but not books), home care for Granny, cable TV, haircuts and manicures, or any of the myriad other things that are exempt now from PST but will be hit soon by HST.
So why such a big perk to B.C.`s relative handful of home builders and buyers, and nothing extra for the masses who buy all that other stuff?
The charitable might argue it`s because housing is so important and so burdened by taxes — more than $75,000 on a $550,000 home — that an added straw from HST might break the camel`s back.
But the cynical would say it`s because the province was able to give housing a break through sleight-of-hand, and this would be harder to do with other commodities and services.
The problem is that Victoria is limited in the exemptions it can give by its agreement with Ottawa. Its seven-per-cent share of a new 12-per-cent HST must apply to at least 95 per cent of the existing GST base. And it has already exempted virtually all of the other five per cent through earlier announced breaks for gas and diesel fuel, books, children`s-sized clothing, car seats and booster seats, diapers and feminine hygiene products.
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