Finance Minister Kevin Falcon has introduced Bill 54, committing the government to re-introduce the Provincial Sales Tax by April 1, 2013 with all permanent exemptions as promised.
The single act replaces decades of bills and regulations, simplifies language and administration.
The bill lays out general exemptions for snacks, food and fuel, but a detailed list of exemptions won’t be ready until the fall, and cabinet will enact them through regulations
In general though, consumers will not pay PST on food, restaurant meals, bicycles, gym memberships, books and magazines, movie tickets, nor personal services like haircuts, cleaning services, professional services (excluding legal services), computer services, and used clothing under $ 100
Improvements are being made on administration side.
Businesses can now register, update their account and make payments online.
Low income families will lose their hst credit ($ 230 per person in qualifying families), but the old BC sales tax credit re-implemented ($ 75 per adult in qualifying families)
There is no change to 12% tax on private sales of vehicles, boats and aircraft-this change was made around the same time as HST, but is separate.
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