Talk:Goods and services tax (Canada)

Sources and updates
It would be nice to get some more sources. (or any! the references section is entirely empty).

Also, the two reports on the underground economy are nice but they're from 1993. Has there really not been anything in the last 14 years on this topic?

87.127.95.196 (talk) 00:15, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Random Comments?
Should probably be merged with Sales taxes in Canada


 * I would tend to disagree as the GST has a seperate and distinct role in Canadian history. - SimonP 00:01, Oct 28, 2003 (UTC)


 * I agree with SimonP, keep GST as a separate article. -lommer 01:34, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)

In the last paragraph, the article asserts a hidden 3% tax in the United States that is similar to GST. What is this tax? What is it on? A link to more information about that tax is critical, because as it stands it sounds like a poorly-veiled attempt to justify GST by a political advocate. -lommer 01:34, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Laws forbade vendors to incorporate GST into Canadian prices, however services and products that are deemed "not essential" by the government face a 7% tax at the cash register From Sea to Sea.

For example, Your Big Mac Combo is not taxed, however tampons are.

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Sorry but: 1) Vendors can, if they want, incorporate GST into their prices. However, they have to indicate that prices include GST. 2) Big Mac Combo is taxed. 3) "Essential / Not Essential" is not necessarely the reason why something is taxed or not. For example, financial services are not directly taxed (they are tax exempt) not because they are "essentials" but because of the difficulty of taxing them. Basic groceries are not taxed to remove some regressivity in the system.

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The article could use more technical/economic information.

Here in Australia, a federal GST was introduced in 2000, despite public disapproval. The difference here is that the GST is incorporated (by law) into the price of the goods or services, so the advertised price is what you pay. Shane

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Can someone please make the changes in the GST tax rate more obvious? The 7% to 6% to 5% changes over time are not clear. This is very important for people reviewing records from differing periods, to know that the correct rate has been applied. -jfkuhne 13:23 GMT/UTC 03 January 2008 —Preceding comment was added at 15:26, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

CBC Radio One's Metro Morning in Toronto 2009-09-29 reported that the premier of Ontario has suggested including the HST in advertised prices in the province. The result of course is that the price you see would be the price you pay. The tax calculation and amount could be shown on price tags and labels and on receipts for purchase. Torontonian1 (talk) 13:22, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Australia
Here in Australia, a federal GST was introduced in 2000, despite public disapproval. The difference here is that the GST is incorporated (by law) into the price of the goods or services, so the advertised price is what you pay. Shane


 * Interesting footnote, when the GST in Canada came out, it was up to the retailer whether they wanted to include it in the sales price or not - there used to be stickers on cash registers that said "Prices include 7% GST" or "Prices do not include 7% GST." Most opted not to include the GST in their price, partly because that was the way it was always done with the Provincial Sales Tax, and partly because it made their prices seem higher by comparison to retailers who did not include the GST in their price. 68.43.152.39 21:36, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Isn't GST Government Sales Tax?
Or at least thats what I was always taught it was-- and i'm Canadian!


 * No, it isn't. I don't know who taught you, but you should look for better teachers. Check out Canada Revenue Agency's website if you don't believe me. Ground Zero | t 13:34, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

Just in case it means anything, I too was taught that GST meant Government Sales Tax, because PST meant Provincial Sales Tax (unless I'm also mistaken). But if that website truly clarifies, then yes, I, along with the original poster, were both taught wrong.


 * PST is paid to provincial governments. GST is paid to the federal government. In fact, only governments are allowed to levy taxes, so all taxes are "government taxes". Ground Zero | t 11:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Sept 13 2005 Overhaul
I've re-worked this to make it easier to follow and to add in more technical explanation. This is a major tax: about $15 billion a year? I don't think it makes sense to short-change the topic by over-simplifying. Making the article more clearly written, and breaking it into logical sections should make this subject matter easier to comprehend for non-technical readers without denying them access to the detail that Wikipedia should be able to provide. Ground Zero | t 17:56, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Answer: about $28 billion a year (GST alone (provincial component of the HST not included in fed revenues), net of GST low-income credits.


 * Where does that number come from? Whre does any of the info in this article come from other than common knowledge?  To be honest, I myself am seeking a definitive source for info on the Canadian federal government's annual GST revenues, but I'm also personally confused (almost disturbed) by the lack of references in this article.  Staedtler 01:03, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * In fact, let me state what I've found so far. This Statscan table shows that Canada's revenue on "consumption taxes" for 2005 was $47.126 billion.  Of course, "consumption taxes" includes federal taxes on alcohol, tobacco, gas, etc., and not just the GST.  So I paid Statscan $3 to run a query on the source table (Table 385-0001: Consolidated federal, provincial, territorial and local government revenue and expenditures, for fiscal year ending March 31, annual).  In 2005, federal government revenue from general sales tax was $34.013 billion.  I still can not confirm that "general sales tax" is only the GST -- perhaps $28 billion is the rough total o the GST portion of the $34 billion?  I still don't know for sure, and I think I want my $3 back. Staedtler 02:04, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Budget Plan would have given you the answer for free! For example: http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget06/bp/bpc4e.htm - Outlook for Budgetary Revenues Table 4.5 The Revenue Outlook (Including May 2006 Budget Measures)

Actual Estimate Projection (millions of dollars) 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 Goods and services tax 29,758 31,940  29,845 29,760 TotoElMondo 20:06, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

"Current Situation"
In this section, it is cited without source that the budget was "accidentally passed by unanimous consent due to parliamentary confusion." Could you source that please, since it certainly isn't justifiable by "common knowledge" and seems to violate NPOV.

Thanks, -Michael
 * Tory budget passes - accidentally - SimonP 23:13, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Clarification
Where will I see the GST reduced to 6% if not on grocery items? NorthernThunder 09:28, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

You will see the reduced GST on grocery items (other than basic groceries, which are taxed at the rate of 0%) and on all other goods and services that were taxed at the rate of 7%! TotoElMondo 18:07, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Tax-free shopping for visitors?
I don't know if this section should be expanded with the rules for this, but I discovered from my visits to Canada that there are many stipulations in the 'Tax-free shopping for visitors' policy, such that most of my purchases were disqualified and I ended up getting very little of the GST I paid reimbursed. I don't recall all the rules, but individual receipts had to be over a certain amount to be considered. (If you made many small purchases here and there, forget about seeing the rebate, better to buy more in fewer places). Receipts also have to be stamped on the way out.

NOTE: GST Visitor's rebate to be abolished (effective April 1, 2007). Details at http://www.fin.gc.ca/drleg/06-049_1e.html#Schedule

Revenue figures
This article could use some information about how much money the GST brought in for specific years. I wanted to know how much the 1% cut works out to in the grand scheme of things. Seems rather relevant. Somegeek 18:06, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I bet you could find this pretty easily at the Department of Finance website. I agree it would be a worthwhile addition to the article. Ground Zero | t 20:43, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

David Kilgour
this article says he was expelled, but his own article says he quit the PC over GST. which is it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.109.130.68 (talk) 06:41, 6 December 2006 (UTC).

Harmonized Sales Tax / Blended Sales Tax
I think there should be a mention that the Harmonized Sales Tax was originally going to be called the Blended Sales Tax until the Reform Party started calling it the "BS Tax." I saw someone added it before but it ended up on the "List of Deleted Jokes on Wikipedia" when it was, in fact, true. 68.43.152.39 19:25, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

True or not (references to a blended sales tax, which it is, during the discussions but has never been proposed as the official name) I don't see the relevance in the article, unless it makes sense to start adding bunch of anecdotes such as "Some MPs need to do a bit more research before writing a speech":

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 138 Monday, April 23, 2007

Mr. Ken Boshcoff (Thunder Bay—Rainy River, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, one thing about the value added taxes around the world is that their goal is essentially to assist the lowest income levels. (…)

Fallout vs Reactions
I changed the name of the 'Fallout' subtitle as it is inherently negative not allowing possible positive reactions. This section is about the reaction to a tax, not about radioactive particles that settle to the ground after a nuclear explosion. --Pdelongchamp (talk) 17:06, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Burden of tax
"In this way, the tax is essentially borne by the final consumer." This is a very extreme (and highly, highly improbable) statement, which really ought to be referenced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.162.135.51 (talk) 21:40, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

GST at the pay telephone
Public coin-operated pay phones have their own permutation of GST when implemented in 1991. Since at that time, such phones were limited to taking nickels, dimes and quarters, pay phone calls were subject to GST in such a way as the prices were at five cent increments. It means that if the charge was at a level where the tax was 2.49 cents or less, there was no GST charged: a call of 35 cents or less had no tax, while one of 40 cents up to $1.05 would be taxed 5 cents, and one of $1.10 up to $1.75 would be taxed 10 cents. As pay phones are gradually becoming extinct, prepaid cards are common, and only local calls usually are paid by coin, this problem is generally disappearing, with the GST or HST included in the local call rate. GBC (talk) 17:25, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

GST number format
In my work for a business, I have seen several different formats of other businesses' GST numbers. Sometimes they have an R or RT on the end, sometimes not, and sometimes the R or RT is followed by four more digits.

Does anyone have any insight on why the number format varies? GBC (talk) 16:54, 26 July 2016 (UTC)
 * The GST/HST number is always the organization's business number (nine digits, usually grouped nnnnn nnnn) followed by the account type ("RT" for excise tax), followed by a four digit account number which is usually 0001, but some businesses have more than one excise tax account. When businesses publish their GST number such as on an invoice, it's common to shorten the number to just the 9 digit business number, since the rest can most often be assumed to be "RT0001". The Canada Revenue Agency uses this format for other tax accounts as well, substituting the RT for the tax type (e.g. "RP" for payroll, "RR" for charities, "RC" for corporate income tax). A big list is available here. Ivanvector 🍁  (talk) 19:23, 26 July 2016 (UTC)

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Updates Needed
I came in curious to know how long the new rates had been in effect, and whether they were from provincial changes or federal, since I apparently missed the memo. This article hasn't been updated in a few years, I'm hoping someone with more expertise than myself can add to it at this point.--ak 50.101.200.38 (talk) 23:58, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Table
Do you think a table shiwing the provinces and all their different taxes would help here, seems like it will succinctly summarise what all the different taxes are per province. d3j4vu (talk) 00:45, 4 May 2024 (UTC)