At least I don't live in PEI

Update: Details revealed so far confirm that it's as bad as I thought. It looks like some of the current restrictions (books, kids clothing, FHPs) will remain. About to take a huge hit of course are services (medical, labour, legal, financial), gas (for your car and your home), and probably also household utilities (phone, heating, water). There's a $1000 refund (or a credit if you're more cynical about it) this year for households with incomes less than $160,000 (suck it, achievers!). Every bit as bad as I thought though is the grab on housing. They're only exempting new homes below $400,000. My guess is that this exercise is likely to net the province more than $2.5 billion per year on housing alone. I just love how they have the nerve to claim that this will somehow help businesses. The only way I could see that being the case is if the federal government agrees to exclude raw materials from the new tax.

Do you live in LA? Are you ticked off that Sacramento and Measure R are about to combine to give you a 9.75% sales tax starting July 1? Or maybe you live in Chicago, where you're ripped off to the tune of 10.25%. Well get in line, because the province of Ontario is about to join the ranks of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland in the HST (harmonized sales tax)club. That's right, a sales tax rate of 13% charged on everything, including services.

The most pain from this move will probably be felt by the housing market. At present PST isn't charged on the price of a new home. Basically, the provincial government is about to add 8% to the purchase price of a new house. I'm sure that'll do wonders to jump start that sluggish housing starts number.