For Immediate Release:
December 21, 2010
Simcoe – “It’s time to put the province’s electronics tax out of its misery,” that from Opposition Critic Toby Barrett who in the past has advocated a management shakeup of the Ontario Electronics Stewardship program.
In November The Ontario Electronic Stewardship’s annual report indicated it collected $44 million in eco-taxes while only achieving 2% of its recycling targets.
In recent days Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and caucus members have pledged to scrap the electronics tax.
“My family just took a new television set out of the box for Christmas that we paid $26.25 in recycling fees – at least at the beer store you get your money back when you return,” Barrett said. “I’m looking forward to next Christmas when, under a Tim Hudak government, we don’t have to pay these taxes.”
Over the summer, opposition forced the McGuinty government to backtrack on their costly eco-tax of over 9,000 household items ranging from dish soap, to concrete mix. While the eco fees announced on July First were cancelled, the electronics fees, introduced a year previous, remain in place.
In its first year, the McGuinty government only managed to divert 215.7 tonnes of the 9,994 tonnes of electronics the program targeted. With a total of $44,508,436 in eco-taxes collected, this tax scheme works out to $2,572.30 per tonne – the most expensive in Canada. The 1.31 kg the program recovered per person is the lowest in Canada.
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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at
(519) 428-0446 or (905)-765-8413, 1-800-903-8629