GOVERNMENT SCRAPS BEER TAX INCREASE PLANNED BY LIBERALS

The Ontario government is cancelling a scheduled increase in the provincial beer tax that was set to kick in Nov. 1, forgoing $11 million in potential revenue. The Progressive Conservatives said Friday that the three-cent-per-litre increase was planned by the previous Liberal regime and will be scrapped. “This is just one more tax hike that was due,” said Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, pictured. “We look at every single opportunity to rein in the taxes. From the largest possible, the cap-and-trade tax, all the way through to the beer tax.” The government said beer taxes have increased by three cents per litre each year since 2015. Beer and wine taxes brought in revenues of roughly $589 million in 2016-2017. The beer tax hike would have netted $11 million between Nov. 1 and March 2019.