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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/utility/FeedStylesheets/atom.xsl" media="screen"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="en"><title type="html">Michelle Cao</title><subtitle type="html" /><id>http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/blogs/michelle_cao/atom.aspx</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/blogs/michelle_cao/default.aspx" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/blogs/michelle_cao/atom.aspx" /><generator uri="http://communityserver.org" version="2.1.61019.2">Community Server</generator><updated>2009-11-17T16:47:00Z</updated><entry><title>Stop the HST – Cost of buying, owning and selling a home to go up by 8%</title><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/blogs/michelle_cao/archive/2009/11/17/stop-the-hst-cost-of-buying-owning-and-selling-a-home-to-go-up-by-8.aspx" /><id>http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/blogs/michelle_cao/archive/2009/11/17/stop-the-hst-cost-of-buying-owning-and-selling-a-home-to-go-up-by-8.aspx</id><published>2009-11-17T21:47:00Z</published><updated>2009-11-17T21:47:00Z</updated><content type="html">&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;color:black;font-size:9pt;"&gt;&lt;p class="style1" style="margin:auto 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;color:black;"&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;Earlier this week, the Government of Ontario formally launched its latest assault on homeowners, purchasers and sellers with the introduction of legislation to harmonize the provincial sales tax and goods and services tax.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;Homebuyers and sellers will pay 8 per cent more on legal fees, appraisals, real estate commissions, home inspection fees, and moving costs, adding about $1,500 in new taxes to the average residential real estate transaction in &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;Ontario&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;color:black;"&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;&lt;font face="Times New Roman"&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;For homeowners the HST will also add hundreds of dollars in additional tax on utility bills (gas, electricity and home heating fuel), on home renovation labour, the cost of lawn upkeep or landscaping and the cost of snow removal. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="style1" style="margin:auto 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;color:black;"&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;Please help Ontario REALTORS&amp;reg; fight this tax. In less than 30 seconds you can send an email to your MPP asking them to vote against sales tax harmonization legislation, by clicking here: &lt;/font&gt;&lt;a href="http://bit.ly/stopthehst" title="This external link will open in a new window" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000b97;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none;"&gt;&lt;font size="3"&gt;http://bit.ly/stopthehst&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=572270" width="1" height="1"&gt;</content><author><name>675976</name><uri>http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/members/675976.aspx</uri></author><category term="Announcements" scheme="http://www.torontorealestateservice.com/blogs/michelle_cao/archive/tags/Announcements/default.aspx" /></entry></feed>