Ontario extends PST break for ‘green’ appliances
As first announced in the spring budget, the Ontario government is extending the provincial sales tax exemption on energy-efficient appliances and most bicycles.
Energy Star-rated refrigerators, freezers, washers, dehumidifiers and room air conditioners qualify, along with high-efficiency light bulbs and bicycles costing less than $1,000, Premier Dalton McGuinty said. The 8 per cent PST exemption on appliances and light bulbs will continue until Aug. 31, 2009, and is expected to cost the treasury about $52 million.
The tax break on bikes, helmets and other cycling safety gear will continue until Dec. 31, 2010, at a cost to provincial coffers of about $16 million.
McGuinty acknowledged his government was examining other ways to encourage consumers to choose more environmentally friendly products.
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PARIS - France has unveiled a new electricity pricing mechanism, hoping to defuse months of tension over energy subsidies with Brussels and its neighbors.
The strain has included a Franco-German fight over the reform of the bloc's electricity market, with Germany accusing France of wanting to subsidize its industry via artificially low energy prices, while Paris maintained it should have the right to make the most of its relatively cheap nuclear energy. That fight has now been settled.
On Tuesday, the French government presented a new mechanism — complex, and still-to-be-detailed — to bring the average price of electricity closer to €70…
