THUNDER BAY — The federal tax holiday may be a welcome break for consumers, but for local business owners the exemption has been a little bit of a headache.
Owner of Memorial Home Hardware, Chris Sauer, said, “we had to identify items that are now HST exempt and then change all the tax codes on those items so that people get the appropriate savings.”
He noted that it took a while for them to find each item on the government website so they could accurately exempt the select item.
On top of that, Sauer said his point of sale system charged the company $900 plus HST to make the necessary changes.
“There's only a handful of items in our store, of course, that are tax-exempt,” Sauer said, including pop and candy, a small selection of children’s toys, and Christmas trees.
He also said he hasn’t seen an uptake in sales since the exemption came into place on Dec. 14.
“I'm all in favour of tax breaks for the hardworking Canadians, but in my particular position, it does not benefit me a lot because of the limited number of items we carry,” Sauer said.
President of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, Charla Robinson, said she has heard a lot of frustration from businesses who didn’t have “a lot of clarity leading up to the implementation.”
Robinson stated that certain items, such as books weren’t exempt across the board.
“There was a list of things that weren't eligible. Things like colouring books or like calendar-type books. All of that means that you have to go in and basically. Look at everything to make sure that you're doing it right. So, I heard a lot of frustrations,” said Robinson.
Robinson stated she thought the GST exemption missed the mark in gaining public attention because of a lack of clarity on which items are exempt.
“If the intention was to help to promote retailers and restaurants and to make it easier for consumers to shop, because of that lack of clarity, because of the complications, I don't think they've achieved that objective. If they want people to really know what they're getting maybe make it a little less complicated for everybody,” Robinson said.
