The No Meal Tax Campaign
One of the main sources of traffic to my website in the past couple of years has been the high ranking that my restaurant reviews have on Google. I used to be the top restaurant reviewer on UrbanSpoon (I’m currently ranked 8th) and I definitely love supporting the restaurant industry (and no, I don’t get paid to do restaurant reviews – and very, very rarely have I gotten a meal for free.
I pay for my meals with my hard-earned dollars, and thus I find that the harmonized tax (HST) will significantly impact my desire to go and eat out. I am a policy analyst, so I’m well aware of the fact that governments raise taxes to increase their sources of revenue (which in turn are supposed to provide services). But I can’t really see a good reason why the HST should be in place (I’m willing to change my mind if someone offers a reasoned, policy-analytic approach).
I found out about the No Meal Tax campaign a few days ago, and these are some of the details they provided me with:
The campaign is being put together by both the BC (BCRFA) and Canadian restaurant associations (CRFA). They represent most restaurants from small independents to large chains. They know what a 7% hike in restaurant tabs does not just to your wallet but to thousands of full time and part time jobs. When you add the new 7% tax to the existing 5% tax the total is 12%. That will apply not just to meals but to coffee, take-out food, cafeteria food for students – you name it! Other provinces have been able to do something to help people deal with new restaurant taxes, now it’s BC’s turn to speak out.
For details, you can check their website+, Facebook page, Twitter account.
Related posts:
- Pedigree Adoption Drive Campaign
- The Stop The Meter Campaign
- The @LetsFCancer campaign
- The Metro Vancouver Recycles campaign
- Breakfast, the most important meal of the day
I completely agree – eating out is going to cost a lot more money now and as a result, servers and wait staff will be under tipped. We’re already taxed to the hilt on oeverything else, and now coffees, lunches and dinners too?
I totally agree. I think this is just over the top, it will hit restaurants and customers hard. I see there’s a petition out in BC to protest against the implementation of HST….. not sure it will do any good
Eating out in Vancouver is already RIDICULOUS expensive compared to other cities.
The Vancouver restaurant industry is already teetering on the edge with the economy, and this won’t do anything to help.
Sure, places may be busy during the Olympics, but what about after that?
I agree Raul! This is definitely something that we need to stand up about.
> But I can’t really see a good reason why the HST should be in place
You mean, HST in particular, or a Value Added Tax in general?
VAT is a fair tax – the more you consume, the more you pay. The pricier products you buy, the more you pay. I would even increase VAT and reduce the income tax, so I get to decide what to do with my after-tax money.
Luc has made the general VAT argument. The specific HST argument is probably that by unifying the two taxes, you halve the number of bureaucracies needed to administer them.
It’s going to be rough on any of the newly taxed categories of goods (bicycles and bicycle accessories are my favorite), but the argument that any of them are (or for that matter ever were) special is pretty much risible.
I mean, I like video games, and there’s a substantial local game-making industry, but I’m not daft enough to propose anything like a tax carve-out for my favorite form of entertainment.
For those of you who think we’re already overtaxed, I’d suggest the solution isn’t dropping taxes on dining out, it’s dropping taxes on everything. The idea that foodies deserve special taxation rights is a non-starter for me, and I love eating out.
Now, can we all agree on lowering liquor excise taxes?
I agree with Ryan we pay enough taxes for our government to run this province smoothly, if they didn!t waste so much on the Olympics.