TORONTO - Seniors will be amongst the hardest hit by the creation of a 13 per cent single sales tax in Ontario, opponents of the harmonized sales tax told a legislative committee Thursday in the first of two days of public hearings.

Opponents say merging Ontario's eight per cent provincial sales tax with the five per cent goods and services tax will add eight per cent to items currently exempt from the PST.

"Even in death the HST shows no mercy," Paul Bailey, president of the Police Pensioners Association of Ontario, told the committee.

"Seniors will die and their families, those on fixed incomes and limited support, will be forced to pay an additional cost to bury their loved ones. Our question to government is: why are you targeting seniors?"

Bailey warned the Liberals they would face the wrath of seniors in the 2011 election if the HST is implemented.

"Our coalition will continue to oppose the HST and we will see you at the next election because, as you know, of all large groups, seniors are the ones most likely to vote," he said.

Gerald Gibson, who represents about 4,000 condominium owners -- many of them seniors -- said the HST will drive up condo fees between six to seven per cent because it will apply to all the services the condo corporations must hire from auditors and reserve fund specialists to groundskeeping and management.

"It will apply most unfairly to condominium owners," said Gibson.

"My fees are $800 a month, so six per cent of that is another $50 a month or $600 a year."

Seniors will be hit hard when the HST is applied to everything from gasoline and home heating fuel to mutual funds, but the Liberal government doesn't want to hear that, Bailey said.

"We haven't gone in there asking for exemptions because, quite frankly, they haven't even offered consultations around the province," Bailey told reporters after his committee appearance.

"They're just paying lip service to us here, and then they're just going to ram it through anyway."

The Certified General Accountants of Ontario was the first group to speak in favour of the single sales tax, which it said would help businesses by lowering input costs and therefore also be good for the economy.

"A single sales tax will offer many advantages to Ontario businesses and consumers, ranging from simplifying tax compliance for businesses that will save an estimated $500 million annually in reduced administrative costs, to eliminating approximately $5 billion in embedded provincial sales tax that businesses absorb annually," said association CEO Doug Brooks.

"It is anticipated that 80 per cent of business savings will flow through to consumers within one year of implementation."

The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation blasted the Liberal government for going ahead with the harmonized sales tax in the face of widespread public opposition to the new tax.

"This will have an impact on Ontarians, and your disregard and the fact that you don't give a dang is a problem," spokesman Kevin Gaudet told the Liberals on the committee.

"Your arrogance and disregard is a problem."

After staging a sit-in and other protests to force public hearings on the HST, the Progressive Conservatives complained again Thursday that there will be only two days of consultations, and vowed to introduce a series of amendments during Monday's hearing.

The Tories and New Democrats had been demanding public hearings across Ontario so the government could hear what they say is widespread opposition to the HST.

The government only agreed to add Monday's half day of hearings after the NDP used a procedural move that would have had Thursday's committee hearing start at one minute after midnight.

The Liberal noted it is also cutting personal and corporate taxes by billions of dollars, and offering rebate cheques of up to $1,000 to some families in the first year to offset the impact of the HST.