The Tax Man
Returning to the land of PST, GST, and HST
I’m realising that one of the truly great disappointments in moving back to Canada will be the big, fat in-your-face sales taxes. After a year in France you get adapted to seeing a price of 3.49 € and then getting to the checkout and paying 3.49 €.
Not 4.01 €.
Right now we’re getting used to immediately adding 15% HST to everything that we expect to buy in Nova Scotia, and boy does that add up fast.
The most annoying one of these though are the charges we’re paying to have our household goods (that have been in storage for ten months) moved from Vancouver to Western Head.
Our former household was in BC.
Our moving company is based in BC.
Contracts were signed in BC.
Our goods have been stored for most of a year in BC.
So logically we’ll charged 7% Provincial Sales Tax (PST) and 5% federal Goods and Services Tax (GST). Or 12%.
Wrong. For the sole reason that shipment will eventually be unloaded in Nova Scotia we’ll be hammered with Nova Scotia’s 15% Harmonized Sales Tax. And trust me, 15% of the cost of packing and shipping a household adds up to more than few hundred dollars.
And that applies to moving, packing (which happened in BC) storage (which happened in BC) and even insurance.
Honestly though what made this hardest to accept was that unlike France, where sales taxes are included in the price on the shelf, and consequently just aren’t something you even think about, the HST is slapped on every purchase separately, and waved in your face as if to say “Yeah, it’s ugly and big, but you still have to pay it. Sucker.”
And that’s where I’m asking why a government would choose to do it that way. The tax is the same whether it’s buried into the retail price, or slapped on at the cash register. So why choose the route that’s more annoying, and honestly oppressive?
Why would a government choose the route that insults their population and makes every day tasks like shopping more difficult?
(Note: Yes, Alberta pretends to not have sales taxes, but I’d wager you Albertans pay as much tax as anywhere else, just it’s hidden. Albertans are just so French!)