I wonder if the locals get irritated by the way goods and services are taxed here? I'm referring to the fact that the price you see on the tag is usually pre-tax, and taxes like 5% GST (Goods and Services Tax) and 8% PST (Provincial Sales Tax) are then calculated at the cashier. I think the tax should be worked into the price of an item, otherwise the price can be pretty misleading. In that sense, what Singapore did (making it mandatory for taxes to be shown with the price on the tag) made sense. (Another thing to rant about is this fondness for prices to be ending with 9 cents.)
But surely, it's not too difficult to simply add a 13% tax onto whatever your buy, ignoring the psychological aspect of thinking that an item at $3.99 seems a lot cheaper than it's actual price of $4.15? Not really; to make matters more complex, not all items are subject to GST and/or PST. If we buy something from a supermarket chain like Dominion, it's usually quite simple -- add an that additional 13% onto the total. But we usually shop at Chinatown, Koreatown and organic food shops, and it becomes more complicated.
Take Chinatown and Koreatown grocers. Not all shops charge tax. It doesn't seem to be a matter of size because some small grocers charge tax and some big grocers don't. Also, not all items are taxed, or taxed equally; for example, we just came back from shopping at PAT. The only thing on the entire list that was taxed was the Pocky (imported from Japan), but the Bulgogi marinade (Korea), rice vermicelli (Vietnam), dried udon (Japan), vegetables and meat (from all over) were all not taxed. At one Chinatown shop that sells household goods, on the receipt, the store seems to be divided into two major departments, non-taxed and GST+PST taxed (sure makes their inventory accounting easy). At the organic food shops, bulk produce doesn't seem to be taxed. And depending on the store I buy my half-and-half cream from, the tax seems to be optional.
I am not sure why.
But surely, it's not too difficult to simply add a 13% tax onto whatever your buy, ignoring the psychological aspect of thinking that an item at $3.99 seems a lot cheaper than it's actual price of $4.15? Not really; to make matters more complex, not all items are subject to GST and/or PST. If we buy something from a supermarket chain like Dominion, it's usually quite simple -- add an that additional 13% onto the total. But we usually shop at Chinatown, Koreatown and organic food shops, and it becomes more complicated.
Take Chinatown and Koreatown grocers. Not all shops charge tax. It doesn't seem to be a matter of size because some small grocers charge tax and some big grocers don't. Also, not all items are taxed, or taxed equally; for example, we just came back from shopping at PAT. The only thing on the entire list that was taxed was the Pocky (imported from Japan), but the Bulgogi marinade (Korea), rice vermicelli (Vietnam), dried udon (Japan), vegetables and meat (from all over) were all not taxed. At one Chinatown shop that sells household goods, on the receipt, the store seems to be divided into two major departments, non-taxed and GST+PST taxed (sure makes their inventory accounting easy). At the organic food shops, bulk produce doesn't seem to be taxed. And depending on the store I buy my half-and-half cream from, the tax seems to be optional.
I am not sure why.
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