Starting New Years day, 93 per cent of Ontario income taxpayers are getting a permanent tax cut. It’s part of a comprehensive tax plan that will help create 591,000 jobs, cut personal income taxes and make our province more attractive for new business investment.

As of January 1, the McGuinty government is cutting the first income bracket tax rate by one percentage point, from 6.05 per cent to 5.05 per cent. As a result, Ontario will have the lowest tax rate of all provinces on the first income bracket. An additional 90,000 lower income Ontario taxpayers will no longer pay any provincial personal income tax.

Ontario’s comprehensive package includes $10.6 billion in direct payments and permanent tax relief for the people of Ontario. It also includes a new, permanent Ontario Sales Tax Credit, an enhanced Ontario Property Tax Credit, cuts to corporate income tax rates and merging two sales taxes into a single harmonized sales tax to strengthen our economy.

To find out more about Ontario’s comprehensive tax change package, visit www.ontario.ca/taxchange.

QUOTE

“Starting today, 93 per cent of Ontario tax payers are getting an income tax cut. That means more money in the hands of low and middle income Ontarians and seniors on fixed income. But the greatest benefit is that these cuts are part of a package experts confirm will create investment and jobs when our province needs it most,” said Yasir Naqvi, MPP Ottawa Centre.

QUICK FACTS

This announcement is part of a comprehensive package that includes $10.6 billion in direct payments and permanent tax relief for the people of Ontario over three years:

• Starting in August, 2.9 million low- to middle-income Ontario families and individuals will receive a new, permanent Ontario Sales Tax Credit of up to $260 for each adult and child per year – one of the most generous in Canada;
• An additional $270 million in annual property tax relief, through enhancements to the Ontario Property Tax Credit, will benefit 2.3 million low- to middle-income homeowners and renters;
• $4 billion in Sales Tax Transition Benefits to 6.5 million Ontario families and individuals – totalling up to $1,000 for families (including single parents) and up to $300 for single people – in 2010 and 2011, to ease the transition to the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), starting in June 2010; and
• More than $2.4 billion a year in corporate income tax cuts.