silverstreaked: blog Tales from a city named Ottawa

On The HST

Happy Monday everyone! So, I realize that there is way too much going on in Canada right now regarding the new HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) which just came into effect in B.C. and Ontario, so I'm not going to get into the political/economical issues at all. I figure you can read the news and find those things out yourselves. However, I myself have recently had a few run-ins with the HST which I thought I'd share.

It's probably worth mentioning that I live in Alberta at the moment, but I go to school in Ottawa (Ontario), so I knew I'd have to deal with the 13% HST monster eventually, I just didn't think it would be before September. (Alberta is a great province, tax-wise-- we don't have PST (Provincial Sales Tax), and so we only pay the 5% GST (General Sales Tax) on things which are charged tax )

Firstly, I ordered some books from Amazon last month. When they came in, I was astonished to find out that I was charged HST on my order! There were a couple of problems with this-- one, the HST hadn't even officially come into effect yet, and two, the books were shipped to an Albertan in Alberta! I checked both my billing and shipping addresses on Amazon, and they were both Alberta addresses. I later discovered that Amazon had mistakenly applied the HST to ALL Canadian orders, regardless of province... tut tut, Amazon. They did fix this, but only after I'd already been charged $0.90 on my order in HST. Not a big deal for me, but people with bigger orders must have been pretty darn ticked off.

Secondly, I was reading my cell phone bill the other day, and my jaw fell open when I reached the "Taxes" section of the bill-- $8.50 in tax! (My phone has an Ontario number and plan, so I knew it was subject to HST... but jeesh!) What's even more confusing was the fact that some of the components of my plan are apparently subject to GST and not PST, while others are subject to PST and not GST (don't ask me how this works, I would still like to call them and find out specifically which things are charged which tax), and others are subject to both (HST). So I was charged GST and PST and HST, all seperately! It was definitely a bit crazy.

EDIT: As Grahame (from the Ontario Ministry of Revenue) pointed out in the comments, this is actually due to the fact that my bill spans two months (i.e.: June 15 to July 15), and so I was charged GST and PST for the portion of my bill which occurred before the HST came into effect (on July 1), and HST for the portion after July 1. The total tax I paid was still 13%. Thanks, Grahame!

I'm not looking forwards to the HST when I go back to Ottawa in September. As an Alberta resident, I was already cringing at the "high" taxes I was paying there on food and supplies. Now, even though the total tax has not gone up (it's still 13%), some things which were not taxed either by PST or GST (or both) before,  are now taxed. Sigh. At least school tuition is not subject to the HST (otherwise I'd be paying an additional $850 (roughly) more in taxes ON TOP OF the already-expensive tuition!). Thank goodness that that is not the case.

So in the meantime, I'll enjoy my Alberta-ness for another month and a half, and try not to think about my incoming taxes. (As a point of interest-- I don't believe I'm  eligible for the HST refunds, since I'm not a true resident of Ontario. However, I do qualify for the GST refunds, so maybe (hopefully), that money will offset the extra PST I will not be compensated for).