The Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty will mail out cheques totalling up to $1,000 to families making less than $160,000 per year, CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss reported Wednesday.
About three cheques will be issued over a 12-month period to compensate for the expanded range of the tax.
The move -- without adjustments -- would extend the province's tax take to new homes, children's clothing, heating fuel, books, fast food meals under $4 and feminine hygiene products.
Sources say that the government may offer some exemptions from the harmonized tax, including new homes.
The government has already announced that its budget deficit will total $18 billion, based on $5 billion in the year concluding and $13 billion in the new budget year. One reason for that is that the govenrment will be spending $27.5 billion on infrastructure spending in an effort to kickstart the economy.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said Wednesday that his budget will detail a plan to get Ontario out of that massive financial hole.
McGuinty echoed that, saying: "There is a concerted global effort on the part of national and sub-national jurisdictions to find ways to stimulate the economy.
"That necessarily means higher deficits than usual, and that's compounded by the fact that governments like ours don't want to make cuts to our schools and our hospitals, so we're going to run a significant deficit," he said. Source.
