The HST is Coming

Doug and I just realized we have yet another reason to hurry up and get our renovations done as soon as possible…

Starting July 1, 2010 in Ontario, we will have to pay the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) of PST + GST = 13% on all services, and materials, of contractors and renovators. That will mean an increase of 5% over what we pay now, which is:

• No PST on labour and overhead – about 2/3 of renovators’ bills
• PST (8%) of materials – 1/3 of cost

It’s expected that HST will make the underground economy even bigger – meaning, folks paying cash ‘under the table’ to renovators, contractors and other servicepeople rather than fork over the HST.

I don’t want to “pay under the table,” though. It’s breaking the law, but even worse, it robs our country’s coffers of much needed tax revenue for our great infrastructure, health care coverage, etc.

So, we need to step it up and book those contractors now!