While a two-month GST break may ease financial strain on shoppers, for some retailers this holiday gift from the federal government is proving to be a "make-work project."

With the recent passing of the Tax Break for All Canadians Act in the House of Commons, from Dec. 14, 2024, and Feb. 15, 2025, no GST (or HST where applicable) will be charged on a range of items, including: 

• Prepared foods, including vegetable trays, pre-made meals and salads, and sandwiches.
• Restaurant meals, whether dine-in, takeout, or delivery.
• Snacks, including chips, candy, and granola bars.
• Beer, wine, cider, and pre-mixed alcoholic beverages below 7 per cent ABV.
• Children’s clothing and footwear, car seats, and diapers.
• Children’s toys, such as board games, dolls, and video game consoles.
• Books, print newspapers, and puzzles for all ages.
• Christmas trees.

"The past few years have been challenging. It feels like the price of everything has gone up. And while inflation is cooling and interest rates are dropping, we know that Canadians aren’t feeling that in their household budgets yet," commented Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the temporary tax break that's being called "GST holiday."

"Our government can’t set prices at the checkout, but we can give Canadians more money in their pocket – to help them afford the things they need and save for the things they want."

Prior to Dec. 14, the Observer contacted several members of Salmon Arm's business community to get their takes on the GST holiday. 

At The Nom Shuswap, which sells food bowls and other items made onsite for take-out, Cassie Walters was largely supportive of the temporary tax break. 

"I look at it as a break for our clients," said Walters. "I think we’ll probably be marketing it as this is how much money you will save – on some of our bowls it’s almost $2 of a savings."

Another benefit of the GST holiday, said Walters, is that it's two months the business doesn't have to remit the tax to the federal government. Her one concern was the federal government coming back to business owners in six months or a year from now, expecting the tax to be paid. 

According to the Government of Canada website, however, businesses are only expected to keep their records and "remit and report your regular GST/HST as usual." 

Over at the Hideway Liquor Store, Tim Frazer and staff were also fairly chill about the change. Asked if consumers might see an increase in prices there due to administrative work to accommodate the temporary tax break on particular items, Frazer assured that would not be happening. 

"Our prices only increase when our costs do based on the product, and we do everything we can to keep those prices where they need to be for consumers," said Fraser. "I can assure you that the GST holiday has no impact on our pricing – sales taxes have no impact on our costs and therefore do not affect our pricing. The GST holiday will help consumers buy more of the products they love."

For other retailers, accommodating the change was more of a headache. 

"It’s pretty much a nightmare at the store level because it applies to products that are mixed into each of our sub-departments in our point-of-sale systems," said Uptown Askew's Foods manager Heather Turner. "For the most part you can’t just press a button and take the GST off of those items for two months and then press a button and put it back on. There is a fair bit of labour involved."

That labour will not result in price increases, stressed Turner, who will be reminding customers through various signs posted throughout the store that the tax break does not apply to everything sold there. 

"It’s only specific categories of items the government has decided to give the GST holiday to," said Turner. "There’s going to be an awful lot of products we'll be selling in that time frame that will have GST applied to them."

While Turner acknowledged some customers may see some savings on their receipts over the coming months, she wasn't impressed with the GST holiday happening at a time when retailers are already very busy. 

"It’s a make work project for retailers and wholesalers," said Turner. "It doesn’t really have a lot of impact on the average person that’s trying to make ends meet."

Mike Adrian shares some of that view. The Sanctuary Games manager said it has been a challenge determining what items are affected by the tax break. 

"We’re kind of getting it figured out – lots of grey-area stuff. Trading card games don’t get taxed. Do, card sleeves, card boxes and accessories," said Adrian, who has received some assistance through social media from other stores that specialize in hobbies for all ages, including games, puzzles, art supplies, manga and more. 

Adrian said the GST savings will require a manual effort, with store employees working off a list of applicable GST-free items and applying the savings at the point of sale. 

"Unfortunately it's not as easy as, 'Oh, OK,' these categories in our system, we can just change them all with a stroke of a key… it's too complex for that. So yeah, it will all be done manually and by hand," said Adrian, who asked that customers be patient with staff "because there's going to be a learning curve, especially with the younger staff, making sure we're following the government's orders as close as we can." 

Like others, Adrian agreed the GST holiday will be good for customers, though its timing, at least for retailers, isn't the best.  

"I get what they're trying to do and it's great for the shopper, but it's a lot of work for the vendors for sure. It's going be interesting," said Adrian.