Thursday, April 15, 2010

Kelly McParland: Ontario discovers pretend economics
Posted: April 14, 2010, 1:15 PM by NP Editor Filed under: Kelly McParland,taxes,ontario
 
Ontario’s government is in the midst of developing a new school in applied economics as it seeks to deal with the financial cavern it’s dug for itself. You might call it "pretend economics". Under pretend economics, you make decisions and pretend there are no repercussions. Queen’s Park applied pretend economics this week when it ruled that landlords would not be allowed to raise rents to recoup extra expenses they'll face when the Harmonized Sales Tax takes effect this summer. The tax will boost costs on utilities, maintenance, property management, renovations and other normal upkeep. Landlords estimate their bills will rise by about 5%, on top of inflation at about 2%. Since they’re still not allowed to print their own money, they were hoping to offset some of the added expense via rent increases above the guideline that ties them to the consumer price index.

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