Quote:
Originally Posted by itinerant
Its not just the increased tax on top of the cost of the meal. Many restaurants I have visited recently have increased their before-tax prices significantly: from 10 to 20%. When asked, they have all blamed HST for increasing their costs--which they are passing on to the consumer. What?! Are they using this as an excuse to push up prices or are we really seeing increased taxes trickling through the system of transport and distribution until it hits our dinner bill? I think the latter.
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Hmmm, so there is now 7% more tax on a very few number of items a restaurant will be buying, and they charge 20% more. It's like when the gas tax goes up 4 cents, but the price at the pump jumps 20 cents.
There is is no increased taxes trickling through the system of transport and distribution that can't be recovered. There is HST sold on items to businesses, but if you are buying an HST item and then adding value to it and reselling it to consumers (like canned fruit salad), or using it to add value to other items (like a stove), you get the tax back. They are called HST input tax credits. Any businesses charging more because they are paying HST are either really bad at accounting or are lying cheats.
P.S. Any restaurant that uses a lot of pre-prepared food items that they are paying HST on is a restaurant not worth visiting in my opinion. Any fresh food that a restaurant should be using is tax free. Why should i pay $20 to have someone heat up some $2 canned crap? I can do that at home, and without the surly attitude and being ignored for three quarters of an hour.
Maybe it's time that restaurants in Vancouver realize they run horrible businesses that are over priced and often have poor service and little to no ambiance, and for years have been lucky that Vancouverites just didn't care enough to stop paying. Now that there is an excuse for the customer to not pay exorbitant prices, the food industry is crying fowl. Boo Hoo. I don't know if I've ever been anywhere in the world and paid more for a bellow average meal and watery beer (or a teeny tiny glass of wine) than I do in Vancouver. Some free rides come to an end.