People are reacting to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tweet about the upcoming GST/HST holiday tax break after a community note on the platform revealed most groceries in Canada are already exempt from the GST.
As of Dec. 14, the federal government’s proposed measure to provide temporary GST/HST relief on lifestyle items will be in effect.
The tax break will remove the federal and provincial tax on meals, children’s necessities, video games, books and Christmas trees until Feb. 15, 2025. The break is aimed at giving Canadians some relief during the holiday season and to help with the rising costs of living.
READ MORE: Ontario set to remove provincial sales tax to match federal holiday tax break
For example, the government says a family spending $2,000 on goods would have GST savings of $100 over the two-month period.
“In provinces where the HST will also be removed from qualifying goods (Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), further savings would be realized. In Ontario, the same $2,000 basket of qualifying purchases realize HST savings of $260 over the two-month period,” a press release read.
In Ontario, this means the GST and HST tax of 13 per cent will not apply. Last month, the Ford government also announced an additional tax break that will match the holiday tax break by removing the provincial sales tax (PST).
Last week, Trudeau reminded Canadians about the upcoming tax break on X, but the platform’s community notes were quick to point out that most groceries are already exempt from GST, according to the Canada Revenue Agency. Community notes are a feature on the platform that allows users to collaboratively add extra context to potentially misleading posts.
“Contributors can leave notes on any post and if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a post,” according to X’s help centre.
In under two weeks, you’ll be paying less for groceries at the register.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 5, 2024
Canadians are getting a tax break — starting December 14.
Online, some users are applauding the community notes.
“There is already no GST on almost all essential grocery items. One would think a PM would know that before he promotes it as a tax break that is somehow making life more affordable short term,” one X user said.
“Somebody forgot to tell Trudeau that most groceries on items like whole foods are already GST exempt. Thankful for Community Notes keeping the disinformation and misinformation in check,” another user said.
“The community note is the best,” another user commented.
“Literally got community noted for lying,” another comment read.
HOLIDAY TAX BREAK ‘POISONOUS’ FOR CANADIANS
Food Policy and Safety Professor and Senior Director at Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab Dr. Sylvain Charlebois argues that the GST tax break is actually a curse in disguise, as the fiscal policy could lead to opportunity pricing.
“…What I did say to senators is that the temporary nature of the holiday tax break is quite dangerous because it could lead to opportunity pricing, so grocers would actually try to capture that five per cent by increasing prices for a few months,” he told Now Toronto on Monday.
“In February, when taxes come back, you would see the tax come back and applied on higher food prices, and not just for taxable products, but for non-taxable products. Because at the grocery store, when prices go up for certain categories, prices go up basically everywhere, and that’s what we’ve seen the last few years,” he continued.
Charlebois says the holiday break could actually result in a “poisonous one” for Canadians over the long term. The food expert believes the best and fair solution would be removing taxes on food altogether.
“If there’s anything we can do to help Canadians, we should actually eliminate all taxes at the grocery store permanently, because if you only do it temporarily, you open the door to off-duty pricing,” he explained.
“I’ve always believed that taxing food at the grocery store is immoral. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do, no matter who’s saying what. I think the Prime Minister’s intent is a good one, but it shouldn’t be temporary,” he concludes.
