Saturday, March 28, 2009

More information please (Ontario budget edition)

1. What exactly is to be gained by harmonizing the sales taxes? Media coverage implies that there is some widely-known benefit to doing this, but I don't know what it is.

2. Exactly how much of their assets must a person liquidate before they can apply for welfare? Media coverage has mentioned a few times recently that it is recommended that people not be required to liquidate so much, but I don't know what the current amount is. This is important, because I suspect the amount of assets you're allowed to have is much much lower than the average person is aware of. I know (like this) that at one point during my politically-aware lifetime, most likely during the Harris era, you had to sell your home, you had to sell your car, and you couldn't have more than $200 (sic) in the bank. I'm hoping the rules have changed since then, but I have no idea what they are currently. It would be helpful for this to be common knowledge.

Update: The answer to #2 is $572

1 comment:

laura k said...

#1: I get the impression it's because the harmonized tax would apply to items now exempt from PST, so the province would increase revenue.