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Originally Posted by twoNeurons
With "transparent" taxes, retailers raise prices at the same time as the government.
I don't buy the "transparency" in tax issue.
Easy way to solve that is in consumer goods put both prices on the tag. They do that in Japan. It seems to work well.
e.g.
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pre-tax: $35.71
Price: $40
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But retailers are at their discretion to raise prices anytime. Some restaurants raised their prices anyway, *and* charged HST on your purchase. Pre-tax pricing makes this easy to call out.
And transparency? vanlaw hits the nail on the head here:
Quote:
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Also have started bringing my lunch to work more...all of a sudden that $7.50 salad being $8.40 after tax was enough to get me to spend the 5 min in the morning to throw something together.
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IMO comsumptive taxes are more transparent than income taxes. it's clear what you are charged on, it encourages less consumption (IMO a good thing) and avoidable if you do small things like make your own lunch.
Think to your income taxes - do you remember how much you paid? did you maximize your deductions? RRSPs? If Victoria wanted to do a straight money grab a slight increase to income taxes would (likely) cause less grief than the HST as one cannot immediately grasp the effects of a percentage hike to your marginal rate if it's not tax season.