Canada has implemented a new tax savings from December to February for some things like taxable groceries, crafts, and gaming physical media. I wanted to get a new Xbox controller and found the best price at Walmart for $55 a week ago. The tax holiday starts today and I now see that the $55 has increased to $62 and change, which is about how much tax I should be saving. Great to see this thinly veiled attempt to help Canadians ( /s - win votes) is just going to be extra profit in the corporations’ pockets.
How so?
Last week, a vendor sold an item for $10. With tax, that item costs $12. Let’s pretend a 50% markup (which is reasonable for retail but insanely high for groceries):
Now the government has a GST holiday and there’s no tax. I went to the store and bought the item and it still cost me $12.
The main thing is that their costs for that item didn’t increase and they’re still selling it at its original ”final” price (because they added the tax amount to the sticker price). That tax savings went straight into profits. It was intended for the consumer to save money but the consumer is spending the same amount and the government isn’t getting anything. That money went somewhere.
Edit: that assumes that the claim made in the post is true. It’s definitely not going to be true across the board, but doubtless there’s some fuckery afoot in some stores.
That wouldn’t pass consumer protection laws in my country.
If they were honest, my claim still stands.
If they are not, well, then it’s probably against consumer laws in Canada too.