TORONTO - The morning coffee and newspaper are among the items Ontario will be exempting from the provincial portion of the blended sales tax.
Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, with a Tim Hortons service counter as his backdrop, says fast food and beverages sold for less than $4 are being added to the exemption list.
Duncan says today's announcement is about more than just a cup of joe and highlighted a government tax package to be introduced in the legislature next Monday.
Newspapers will also be exempt from the provincial portion of the HST under today's announcement.
The government is leaning on a report by tax expert Jack Mintz in selling the blended tax.
Mintz said tax harmonization combined with corporate and income tax cuts will help create an estimated 591,000 new jobs in the province over 10 years.
Books, children's clothing and footwear, diapers, car and booster seats and feminine hygiene products have already been declared exempt from the eight per cent provincial component of the tax.
Opposition parties have labelled tax harmonization a massive tax grab and note the merged tax will still apply to things like gasoline and home heating fuel.
Ontario's 13 per cent harmonized sales tax kicks in next July, the same time British Columbia plans to bring in a 12 per cent harmonized tax.
