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Company News: Blog
03 September 2010
Like everybody else in the legal community I'm following with prurient interest the trials and tribulations of embattled associate chief justice of Manitoba, Lori Douglas, who was ousted by a disgruntled client of her husband's law firm. Nude photographs of her were posted, apparently without...
- 07 August 2010 It's a dog's life
- 12 July 2010 Governor General Designate with legal background
Harmonized sales tax - a blessing or a burden? |
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| Written by Christopher Green |
| Friday, 24 July 2009 00:00 |
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Harmonized sales tax - where on earth did this come from? As recently as May 2009, the BC government declared categorically that it would not institute a harmonized sales tax regime, because an increase in the tax base would be unwarranted. Ha! Like most of my colleagues at the bar, I have been a vocal long-time opponent of the discriminatory tax on lawyer's services. As anyone who has had the pleasure of paying a lawyer's bill knows, the profession has been singled out as the only provider of business services which is required to pay provincial sales tax. This tax has been the subject of court challenges and - until yesterday's announcement of the HST - the subject of a lot of backroom lobbying in an effort to have the tax on lawyers' services rescinded. The government's response has been to widen the tax grab to include the entire services sector. Now you will pay an additional 7% for the services of your accountant, engineer, architect, business consultant, web designer and so forth. I wonder if they will extend their grasping hand even further by eliminating the $30,000 threshold below which you need not presently charge GST? It hasn't been 24 hours since the announcement to adopt HST in BC next July and already I'm getting worried phone calls and emails from clients who are concerned about the implications for their business.
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I heard a number of real estate agents on the news today advising that there will be a partial rebate of the provincial portion of the single sales tax for new housing, to ensure that new homes up to $400,000 will bear no more tax than under the current PST system, and homes above $400,000 will receive a flat rebate of about $20,000. However, the HST will still place a burden on an already volatile market, and those purchasing a typical home in the GVRD will face an additional tax burden which may put them out of the market.