Wilkinson says HST will help create 600,000 jobs 5 · Thursday, December 10, 2009 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Continued from page 4 they pay on many of the business purchases and capital investments, as well as save more than $500 million a year in administrative and compliance costs. The legislation passed Wednesday also means that 93 per cent of Ontario taxpayers will get a personal income tax cut starting Jan. 1, 2010. All taxpayers in the province will see a 16.5 per cent cut in the tax rate on their first $37,106 of taxable income, while families and individuals with up to $80,000 of income will get an average personal income tax cut of 10 per cent. Families and individuals in the middle to lower-class brackets will also receive transition payments. Wilkinson said the government is also easing the cost to consumers by providing PST exemptions on some items, such as diapers, children's clothing, coffee under $5 and newspapers. The Minister added that since businesses will benefit, Revenue Minister John Wilkinson their tax savings will filter down to consumers through reductions in prices on many products. "We are the first to recognize that we are going to raise taxes on consumption," he said. "But for 83 per cent of the things we buy every day, there is no change, like food at the grocery store. For many things, we're already paying PST and GST -- five and eight is still 13. But the price will go down, because on all of those items where there is PST, we are driving down the cost of business. I know that will flow through to consumers.... It is going to take a while for that to work its way through the economy, but I am convinced that it will." Two weeks ago at an Oakville Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Conservative Leader Tim Hudak charged the Liberals' HST plan, which his party has relabelled the Dalton Sales Tax, as being a tax grab. Wilkinson said it is anything but when asked about this accusation, adding that the province won't make money off HST in the initial years. "This isn't a tax grab. This will actually cost the government money in the first three or four years," he said. "It isn't an exercise in raising additional revenue, it is an exercise in reforming our tax system so we get the 600,000 more people working in Ontario." He said people need to think of it as tax reform, rather than a new tax. "When we share with people across the province the nature of this tax reform, (we tell them) the HST is one thing we are doing, but there are 12 other things we are doing," he said. "We are eliminating three taxes -- the PST, the small business surtax and the capital tax. We're reducing three taxes -- the personal income tax, small business tax and corporate tax. We're increasing thee tax credits for people of modest means, with an HST rebate, doubling the property tax credit for seniors and improving the property and sales tax grants for the majority of people in Ontario and we're arranging for three tax-free transitional cheques." Yes, We Can Ship That ! 15% OFF On calendar orders placed before December 23, 2009. The UPS Store Across from Go Station (Near Trafalger) 165 Cross Avenue Oakville, ON L6J 0A9 tel 905.842.3149 store400@theupsstore.ca ® p p gift with care, to make sure it gets there ! Get away from winter even if you can't get away TM Creating sensational smiles in Oakville for 15 years.