The government says that a family spending $2,000 on qualifying goods, such as children’s clothing, shoes and toys, diapers, books, snacks for the house, or restaurant meals would pay $100 less GST over the two-month period. For those provinces with HST, consumers could save $260.
But the Canadian Federation of Independent Business polled 3,500 small businesses between November 26 and 27 and found widespread concerns about the plan.
“A majority of small firms oppose the planned GST/HST holiday – and this rises to 62% among those required to implement it,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB president. “Only 4% of small business owners believe they will have stronger sales as a result, with 66% of respondents suggesting it will simply shift sales into the tax holiday period.”
However, it’s not just the lack of additional sales that is behind the opposition as 75% of respondents expect costs of around $1000 to reprogram their point-of-sale systems for the tax holiday and then reinstate the tax when it ends on February 15, 2025.
Two thirds of businesses also said that there is not enough time to implement the change before its proposed start date of December 14, especially as many are busy with Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.
