I moved to New Zealand in 2004. In the spring of 2007, I returned to
Canada (via a three-month detour through Rapanui, Chile, Peru and
Colombia). However, I knew I was
back in Canada when I purchased a five dollar phone card at Toronto’s Pearson
airport, and was charged $5.65 at the till.
Canadians know that we are charged sales
taxes, the federal GST for all of us, PST for many, and HST for those that
didn’t repeal it. I’m not
necessarily opposed to sales taxes – there are worse ways to be taxed, besides
they are well established and I can’t see them being repealed any time
soon. What I object to is that the
tax is added at the till. I can’t
just look at the price on the shelf and compare that to the cash in my wallet –
I need to add 5%, or 12%, or 13%, or 15.65%, depending on where I live. As consumers, we have to pay the tax
whether it is thrust in our faces or not, and not having it included just makes
the math harder.
New Zealand has a GST that is include in
the price you see advertised. In
the UK, their outrageous 20% VAT is included in the listed price. Everyone who lives there knows about
the tax and how much that they are charged. And everyone who has an exemption knows that, too!
If we direct all merchants to include the
tax in all advertised prices (including the price on the shelf), we’d save on
aggravation and we wouldn’t have the tax shoved in our face every time we make
a purchase. Plus, it would be
nicer for visitors! Tourists would
simply see a price, and know what they need to pay. No need to explain the entire tax system to every new
out-of-country visitor.
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