Currently, the HST exemption for ready meals reaches $ 4, and Liberal leader Steven Del Duca said the proposed measure would save money for families adding items such as roast chicken to their grocery store or office clerk eating with from a local restaurant. “Families in this very province … need real relief,” he said. “There is no need for empty words. No hollow promises are needed. They need real relief that will help them in their daily lives. NDP leader Andrea Horwath said the Liberals were the ones who put HST in processed foods above $ 4 when they were previously in power. “Now, he’s trying to fix it by saying, ‘Well, we’ll remove HST from ready-to-eat foods under $ 20 now,’” he said. “We can not trust the Liberals to do the right thing in the beginning.” The Liberals say the move would cost about $ 500 million a year in lost revenue. It would add an additional one percent tax to Ontario-based companies with profits of more than $ 1 billion a year, which they say would bring in about $ 150 million a year. They also propose applying a two percent income tax increase to people earning more than $ 500,000 a year. They say this will create a new tax rate of 15.16 percent in personal income above this limit – affecting 0.2 percent of Ontario residents – and generate more than $ 350 million in annual revenue.
