Manitoba has begun collecting a new seven per cent retail sales tax on various types of insurance products.

As of July 15 homeowners started paying the new tax on home insurance premiums, as provisions of the 2012 Manitoba budget came into effect. Home insurance and other insurance products were not previously taxed.

The new tax will be collected as existing policies are renewed, the government says.

Serge Corbeil of the Insurance Bureau of Canada said insurance companies have no choice but to collect the new levy. The IBC estimates the new tax will cost Manitobans $48 million. "Really, going and asking companies to just take that money and pay it themselves would be unfair," he said.

Other types of insurance on which the new tax is applied include:

• Identity theft insurance
• Executor Insurance
• Balance protection insurance
• Mortgage protection insurance
• Trip cancellation insurance.