Proposed Harmonized Sales Tax To Affect Chicopee Prices

In the 2009 Ontario budget, Finance Minister Duncan announced tax reforms for Ontario that would include a blending of the Ontario Retail Sales Tax (RST or more commonly known as PST at 8%) and the federal Goods & Services Tax (GST at 5%).

The implementation of the harmonized, “value added tax” would be July 1st of 2010 pending the passage of the proposed bill by the Provincial Legislature & an agreement with the Federal Government.

The aim of the harmonized tax is to make Ontario more economically competitive. The effects of this harmonized tax will be detrimental to Chicopee specifically & to the sport & recreation sector in general.  We are suggesting that this move is counter intuitive to Ontario Government policies aimed at Ontarians leading an active, healthy lifestyle, by increasing the taxes on these types of activities. 

Currently Chicopee & other sport facilities are not required to collect RST on any programs, lessons, camps, memberships, lift tickets or day passes nor GST on programs & camps for children under the age of 14.  The proposed HST will be largely be consistent with the current GST and there is no clear indication at this time that any recreational programs will continue to be tax exempt.  This will be true of other sport & recreational programs & facilities so it will have a cumulative effect on costs for you & your family.

This will have a direct impact on the cost of staying active in Ontario & specifically participating in activities at Chicopee.  There is the immediate affect of a 13% increase in children’s lesson programs, summer camps etc and an 8% increase in memberships, lift tickets, day passes, adult & teen programs.  This increase is passed directly to the appropriate government agencies.  None of this increase is kept by Chicopee.  Any increases required to maintain Chicopee’s facilities or to provide current levels of service in programs will be addition to the increases as a result of the HST.  The McGuinty government has announced short-term (2 years has been proposed) measures to mitigate the affect of HST on consumers and business that meet particular eligibility criteria.  There is skepticism, at this point, that this measure will equal the increased costs for most participants.

What can we do to influence alternatives to the proposed tax so that Chicopee & other sport & recreation organizations can continue to deliver high quality programs & facilities at a reasonable price that will keep Ontarians physically active?  This is a call to action for Chicopee participants and participants of other sport & recreational facilities to contact their local MPPs, MPs and the Premier to voice their concerns about this proposed harmonized tax.