Ontario families in York Centre are receiving Ontario Sales Tax Transition Benefit (OSTTB) payments as part of Ontario’s tax plan.

The June cheques are the first of up to three payments that will provide eligible families with up to $1,000, and individuals with up to $300.

Over $4.2 billion in transition payments will be delivered in June 2010, December 2010, and June 2011. These transition payments are tax free and will help 6.6 million families and individuals.

Ontario is modernizing an out-dated, 50-year-old, tax system. It includes permanent income tax cuts for families and businesses, new permanent sales tax credits and the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).

The new tax plan will also benefit Ontarians by providing:

• A permanent income tax cut on the first personal income tax bracket, which is benefiting 93 per cent of income tax payers as of January 1, 2010.
• Up to $260 a year for each eligible individual and family member from the new Ontario Sales Tax Credit, paid quarterly beginning in August.
• Up to $1,000 (or $1,125 for seniors) in 2010 from the Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credits after filing a 2009 tax return.

About 83 per cent of consumer spending will not see a change in tax as a result of the HST. This tax package is a key component of the five-year Open Ontario Plan, which supports job creation and enhances the programs and services, including education, health care and skills training, that Ontarians value.

QUOTES

“These transition payments will assist families during the period when businesses adjust their processes and their prices to the almost $4.5 billion a year from input tax credits and over $500 million a year in administrative costs they will saved once the HST is fully phased in. In the long-term consumers will be winners as businesses pass through their savings.”

—Monte Kwinter

“These transition cheques are designed to put more money back into people’s pockets as we transition to the HST. But the most important benefit will be a stronger economy and more jobs that result from our overall package of tax reform.”

— Minister of Revenue John Wilkinson.

QUICK FACTS

·Ontario is providing a total of $11.8 billion over three years in direct payments and permanent personal income tax cuts to help Ontarians adjust to the HST.

·$100 in tax benefits equals $1,250 worth of items that will see a change in tax under the HST.

·A study by taxation expert Jack Mintz estimated that Ontario’s tax plan will help deliver increased annual incomes of up to 8.8 per cent and create 600,000 net new jobs over the next decade.

·A new, comprehensive study — using Statistics Canada's Social Policy Simulation Database and Model and reviewed by some of Canada's leading economists — shows that the province's tax system will be more progressive as a result of Ontario's Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth.

LEARN MORE

Learn more about the HST and Ontario’s Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth at www.ontario.ca/taxchange