The Ontario Health "Premium"

Warren's done a few of these of late, so I figured I'd throw one out there...

"I won't raise your taxes. But I won't cut them either."

Guess who said it? HINT - ask Warren ;-)

The Ontario Government just announced that the projected 2005-2006 Budget deficit is now gone... they actually posted a $300 million dollar surplus.

A Tory MPP made the comment, "Maybe now it's time to see the government get rid of the Health Tax."

The Ontario Health Tax... er, "Premium". It's something that has bothered me since it was announced... so I figured I'd sit down and chew some numbers to see how much it's really affected me. I crunched the numbers, and here's what I came up with.

2003 Ontario Tax rate, pre-"premium" - 3.7%
2004 Ontario Tax rate, with "premium" - 3.4%
2005 Ontario Tax rate, with "premium" - 3.6%

Okay, so my overall tax rate was lower both years... but those years also coincided with a significant drop in my annual income, due to a layoff, etc. But what if I had actually seen the tax reductions that the previous Harris Government had introduced?

2004 Ontario Tax rate (sans "premium") - 3.0% (vs. 3.4%)
2005 Ontario Tax rate (sans "premium") - 2.8% (vs. 3.6%)

Hummm... I think that qualifies as a net tax "increase".

Just an observation.