VANCOUVER - When Marg Richards and her husband Jack Donaldson started buying rental apartments several years ago to buoy their retirement income they had no idea they would be swamped by the harmonized sales tax.

The couple invested in 18 rental properties in southern Ontario and were pleased with the modest profits until the government announced the 13 per cent tax, leaving them reeling.

Ontario landlords are only permitted to raise rents by 0.7 per cent in 2011, while the new levy will add eight per cent in costs for everything from utility bills to property manager fees.

"They're kicking me in the butt. It's just not fair," Richards, 56, said from her Puslinch, Ont. home, an hour's drive southwest of Toronto.

"We thought we were onto a good thing. Now we might need to think of a Plan B."

Starting Thursday, the five per cent federal goods and service tax merges with the eight per cent provincial sales tax in Ontario, and seven per cent PST in British Columbia. Consumers are expected to fork out more cash on about 20 per cent of purchases that were previously PST exempt.

Melissa McPhee and her partner, a generation-Y couple still paying back student debts, have been saving for five years to buy their first home.

They were relieved to recently squeeze a deal through on a $550,000 two-storey in a tree-lined Mississauga, Ont. neighbourhood, saving thousands in lawyers' fees.

But they're still reconciling the fact that it will cost them more than expected for renovations, landscaping and utilities.

"It's pushing home ownership out of the grasp of younger adults who are just coming into the working world," said the 31-year-old veterinarian. "It does hurt significantly."

Like Richards, McPhee and her partner have realized they'll have to change their living habits to accommodate shrinking pocketbooks.

"You definitely have to plan everything out a little bit closer and watch your money a little bit closer," McPhee said.

As consumers in both Ontario and British Columbia fathom the incoming hit to their wallets, experts say some are pulling out spreadsheets while others can't do anything but gripe that it's a tax grab.

"They would like to take whatever action, but at the moment (consumers) are so confused, I don't think anybody has a clue on what might be the most beneficial action to take," said Bruce Cran, Vancouver-based president of the Consumer Association of Canada.

With left- and right-wing organizations publishing markedly different figures of the financial impact, Cran said consumers are in a muddle.

His association has fielded several hundred calls for advice in the last eight months.

"We've been telling people in both provinces not to make panic purchases," he said.

Not everyone is heeding the suggestion. A contingent has jumped on the beat-the-HST bandwagon, said Simon Fraser University marketing professor Lindsay Meredith.

"What we're seeing is a very big artificial bump in demand, and that'll be very likely followed by a crash," he said.

Not that it prevented him from joining the brigade pounding out home renovations over recent months to sideswipe the tax. The Port Moody, B.C., man poured funds into redoing the family room, two bathrooms and kitchen in his 40-year-old home.

"I suspect you're going to see lethargy in the market for probably a good chunk of the summer," he said, explaining people will hold off making purchases while feeling poorer because of higher costs.

With the tax shifting the burden from businesses to consumers, Ontario families can expect to shell out another $800 in annual costs.

The same estimates aren't available for residents in British Columbia, although the B.C. New Democrats argue industries from restaurants to tourism, retail and health will be forced to cut jobs as they suffer losses in revenue.

B.C. realtors haven't noticed a major surge in people snapping up new homes to avoid the tax, but many have asked questions about when they should begin charging HST on commissions, said a spokesman for the B.C. Real Estate Association.

Frank Thiele, who lives in Huntsville, Ont., said after recognizing the tax as inevitable, he's been revising the family budget.

"It's just a matter of making choices," he said. "If my money is being directed toward (the HST), that means other things are going to have to go by the wayside. That's just the way it is."