Manitoba to cut PST at grocery stores in new budget: premier (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 1 day ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Provincial sales taxes will be removed from more grocery store items under Manitoba's next budget, and one researcher says the province may be the first to do so.

Currently, Manitobans pay provincial sales tax (PST) on prepared food and drinks sold for immediate consumption.

That includes "rotisserie chickens, salads, a case of Bubly — all the stuff that you're grabbing on the way home when you're in a rush and you gotta try and put a meal on the table for the family," Premier Wab Kinew announced in a post on social media Tuesday.

"After our budget passes — assuming it passes by July 1 — that will all be tax free," Kinew said.

It's a "bold move" that will relieve some pressure on Manitobans at the grocery store, says Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab in Nova Scotia.

Manitoba may be the first Canadian province to eliminate the tax at the grocery store, he said.

"I think it should be welcome news for the rest of Canada, as far as I'm concerned, [and] I think perhaps other provinces should follow suit," Charlebois told CBC News.

top 8 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

No tax - only cut!

Of all the things to cut tax on, this is probably the best... way better than the gas tax perma-vacation Wab gave us. But I'm not gonna lie, I'd rather we target the rampant supply chain monopolies, retailer monopolies, etc. I mean shit, Safeway has an agreement with the City of Winnipeg to disallow other grocery stores within 1km or something like that. It's illegal to open competition! Go after that! But no, North Americans can only conceptualize tax cuts.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 6 points 20 hours ago

Safeway has an agreement with the City of Winnipeg to disallow other grocery stores within 1km or something

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-grocery-competition-property-controls-restrictive-covenants-9.7005562

The MB-NDP controlled legislature already banned those kinds of new noncompete clauses last year, and Kinew's government is preparing to challenge all existing ones.

[-] assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works 5 points 17 hours ago

Yes, I hope the NDP are able to kill the existing ones. Generally I like Wab and the NDP, he was my MLA for a great number of years. I just wish our politics broadly wasn't so focused on cutting taxes. The gas tax "vacation" hurt my soul, we need to be doubling down on transit and active transportation, not encouraging every family go buy a 2nd F150 to take the kids to work.

I'll firmly vote NDP again, I'll never let perfect be the enemy of good.

[-] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 17 hours ago

Meanwhile Loblaws owns a property company that leases out land only to bloblaws

[-] SamuelRJankis@sh.itjust.works 9 points 22 hours ago

BC really should have done something like this as well. They were going to be in a deficit either way, might as well try to quell the people with something like this.

Food and drinks considered "basic groceries" are already exempted from the tax in Manitoba, including fruits and vegetables, most meat and milk products, eggs, coffee and oil.

Winnipegger Sanjay Sewpaul, who has four kids and pays about $1,500 on groceries each moth, said the move is good news and likely to help businesses, but he doesn't feel like it will "do too much" for consumers.

He spent $305 on groceries in Winnipeg on Tuesday, including $6.58 in PST.

[-] twopi@lemmy.ca 7 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I'm guessing the companies will just raise the prices to capture the $6.58. After all they were willing to pay for it before.

[-] BCsven@lemmy.ca 1 points 17 hours ago

They will raise to make more profit and hope customers still pay, but the company collecting PST doesn't keep it, its a feed through transfer to CRA

[-] SamuelRJankis@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

As someone who said the same when they removed the Carbon tax I do somewhat agree.

But contextually the BC NDP is very unpopular in the latest polling and people are extremely price sensitive these days. I'm not really sure the removal will really help people out much but it will gain some votes and allow them to point the finger at people like Loblaws for the inflation.