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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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 Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:22 pm Post subject: Canada cuts GST |
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Hrm. The PCs are cutting the GST to 5%. I've been away from Canada since 2000. Wasn't it 7% back then? This will suck for provinces that apply PST to the GST.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2007/10/31/nb-hst.html
Quebec, for example, puts its sales tax on price after you've included the GST, treating it like the old hidden manufacturer's tax. Not sure about NB, above. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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Really? Sask's PST is based on the cost before GST. (or that's what we've always been told) I had not heard of the situation in Quebec before.
They are also reducing personal income tax a bit. I guess it's good news for working people, but I think they could have cut a bit more. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:32 pm Post subject: Re: Canada cuts GST |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Hrm. The PCs are cutting the GST to 5%. I've been away from Canada since 2000. Wasn't it 7% back then? This will suck for provinces that apply PST to the GST.
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Yeah, they dropped it by a percentage point back in 2006. If this keeps up, it might even be gone by 2014, though there have been calls to end it since '93.
The Harper government had to do something, since they basically admitted that they can't or won't force businesses to lower prices to correspond to the strong Loonie a few days ago. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:01 pm Post subject: Re: Canada cuts GST |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Hrm. The PCs are cutting the GST to 5%. I've been away from Canada since 2000. Wasn't it 7% back then? This will suck for provinces that apply PST to the GST.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2007/10/31/nb-hst.html
Quebec, for example, puts its sales tax on price after you've included the GST, treating it like the old hidden manufacturer's tax. Not sure about NB, above. |
Apparently it's only Quebec and PEI that do that. Quebec will lose about $90 million a year from this cut but they might take the $90 million some other way, since it's an opportunity to handle more of the same money without Ottawa in the picture, and in exchange spend part of it on something that Quebeckers might like. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:13 pm Post subject: Re: Canada cuts GST |
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| peppermint wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
Hrm. The PCs are cutting the GST to 5%. I've been away from Canada since 2000. Wasn't it 7% back then? This will suck for provinces that apply PST to the GST.
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Yeah, they dropped it by a percentage point back in 2006. If this keeps up, it might even be gone by 2014, though there have been calls to end it since '93.
The Harper government had to do something, since they basically admitted that they can't or won't force businesses to lower prices to correspond to the strong Loonie a few days ago. |
Wasn't it originally only supposed to be for a few years anyway? |
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Mosley
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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Well, it's better than nothing but I'd scrap the GST altogether.
If it were up to me, I'd make the basic personal excemption $20K. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:31 am Post subject: Re: Canada cuts GST |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
| peppermint wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
Hrm. The PCs are cutting the GST to 5%. I've been away from Canada since 2000. Wasn't it 7% back then? This will suck for provinces that apply PST to the GST.
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Yeah, they dropped it by a percentage point back in 2006. If this keeps up, it might even be gone by 2014, though there have been calls to end it since '93.
The Harper government had to do something, since they basically admitted that they can't or won't force businesses to lower prices to correspond to the strong Loonie a few days ago. |
Wasn't it originally only supposed to be for a few years anyway? |
The GST was a temporary measure? I don't recall the Tories trying to sell it that way. I remember it was supposed to be 8% on EVERYTHING, including groceries. They dropped it to 7% and remove it from most food products. But kept it on books. Bastards.
Income tax was originally a temporary measure during WWI. The "Income War Tax". Eventually they dropped the "war" part when the government realized no Canadian was at war with income. |
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jlb
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Score. Just in time for my visit home/shopping spree. I'll just have to restrain myself for the first couple weeks until Jan.1. Convenient that it's not cut in time for all the Christmas shopping! |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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For the other Americans, GST means Goods and Services Tax.
My 2 cents, (and as I really know little about this I'm ready to get flamed), it seems that as bad as the GST is, its probably better than the Manufacturer's Sales Tax. The GST is open and visible, it makes it more annoying, but the consumer was paying for the hidden MST. Export businesses are more effectively encouraged under the GST. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| My 2 cents, (and as I really know little about this I'm ready to get flamed), it seems that as bad as the GST is, its probably better than the Manufacturer's Sales Tax. The GST is open and visible, it makes it more annoying, but the consumer was paying for the hidden MST. Export businesses are more effectively encouraged under the GST. |
I agree 100%. I won't flame you. Canada had a pretty good party in the '70s with deficits and we needed to pay that back. It sucked, of course. But it was fairly applied, not put on food, and low income earners got a nice GST refund every year. I forget how much it was. $50 or so. Certainly let you spring for a small luxury like a nice dinner or a new computer game.
And you raised a good point that eliminating the hidden MST helped with exports. That wasn't something I really thought about. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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Liberal leader Dion has stated he may repeal the cuts to the GST if elected PM.
Liberal Party supporters, you have a real winner there-keep him as leader until he dies. |
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endo
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| crusher_of_heads wrote: |
Liberal leader Dion has stated he may repeal the cuts to the GST if elected PM.
Liberal Party supporters, you have a real winner there-keep him as leader until he dies. |
Well how about we pay off our national debt before thinking about further tax cuts?
The generation preceding us gave us this huge debt and I'm not about to hand it off to my children. |
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mcgeezer
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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what was it that sunk Canada into such a large debt?
what the crap was the government buying in the 70's anyways? |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| endo wrote: |
| crusher_of_heads wrote: |
Liberal leader Dion has stated he may repeal the cuts to the GST if elected PM.
Liberal Party supporters, you have a real winner there-keep him as leader until he dies. |
Well how about we pay off our national debt before thinking about further tax cuts?
The generation preceding us gave us this huge debt and I'm not about to hand it off to my children. |
You do realize a lot of that debt is held in the form of savings bonds and other financial instruments held by Canadians as investments. Right?
Think of it as a bit like going to the bank and saying "oh that 20 year mortgage I took out with you, I want to pay it off 15 years early."
The bank is going to go "Ummm, no. We want 15 more years of highly profitable interest out of you.You're more than welcome to pay off the balance plus all the future interest profit we'll make, of course."
So yes, pay of the debt but there's a right way and a wrong way.
Further, allowing Canadians to retain their money lets them put it to more efficient economic use, growing the economy and increasing tax revenue in the long run. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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| mcgeezer wrote: |
what was it that sunk Canada into such a large debt?
what the crap was the government buying in the 70's anyways? |
The social welfare system. Bloated government. |
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