Two-month GST break on some items for the holidays

[techwiz]

Maybe it's just me thinking of the impact on a number of IT systems, but seems like a bunch of work for the retailers and companies to change how GST is charged on certain items for just two months. 

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/finance/news/liberals-offer-gst-break-toys-132440189.html

[Morning Glory]

Some of our states do sales tax holidays around back-to-school time, on top of the regular hodgepodge of different states having different lists that change all the time of what gets taxed and at what amount. It can't be that hard for the computers to handle.

[techwiz]

Some of our states do sales tax holidays around back-to-school time, on top of the regular hodgepodge of different states having different lists that change all the time of what gets taxed and at what amount. It can't be that hard for the computers to handle.

Yes, I agree not that hard from the programing side. 
I was just thinking of the people who are now scrambling to put it in place by Dec. 14 and then make sure to remove the changes come Feb. 15. One of the harder parts will be to figure out what items are covered or not since this is not a clear tax cut on everything.  The retailers are already dealing with port closures, and a postal strike this is an added bonus. 

I wonder if consumers will wait until Dec 14th to make purchases to take advantage of the tax break? 

[GuitarStv]

I wonder if consumers will wait until Dec 14th to make purchases to take advantage of the tax break?

Risky game, that . . . considering that the postal strike will likely make it pretty tough to deliver presents on time as it is.

[okits]

Maybe it's just me thinking of the impact on a number of IT systems, but seems like a bunch of work for the retailers and companies to change how GST is charged on certain items for just two months. 

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/finance/news/liberals-offer-gst-break-toys-132440189.html

Some of our states do sales tax holidays around back-to-school time, on top of the regular hodgepodge of different states having different lists that change all the time of what gets taxed and at what amount. It can't be that hard for the computers to handle.

Once they figure out how to execute this, it makes it easier to repeat.  For better or for worse.

This is all deficit funded, so short-term relief for long-term pain.  Not my preference, but I guess I benefit by a two month juicing of consumer spending.

[rocketpj]

I think it's setting the stage for a permanent cut to the GST as opposed to a carbon tax cut (which is the opposition platform).  This is a dry run.

It was a bit dumb however not to account for the impact on the 5 provinces that have the HST and how their budgets got cut without their permision.

[FLBiker]

It was a bit dumb however not to account for the impact on the 5 provinces that have the HST and how their budgets got cut without their permision.

As a newcomer, my understanding of Canadian government and politics is pretty limited, but this is at least the third or fourth thing that I've seen launched by the federal government where the details don't seem to have been fully fleshed out.  Other examples are the way international student visa limits were handled, the dental insurance roll-out, and the passport redesign.  I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but wearing my business analyst / project manager hat it's kind of tough to understand why the same mistakes keep getting made.

[sixwings]

It was a bit dumb however not to account for the impact on the 5 provinces that have the HST and how their budgets got cut without their permision.

As a newcomer, my understanding of Canadian government and politics is pretty limited, but this is at least the third or fourth thing that I've seen launched by the federal government where the details don't seem to have been fully fleshed out.  Other examples are the way international student visa limits were handled, the dental insurance roll-out, and the passport redesign.  I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but wearing my business analyst / project manager hat it's kind of tough to understand why the same mistakes keep getting made.

Election is in October at the latest and Liberal party is polling VERY VERY badly right now. On top of that, a vote of no confidence in the house could topple the govt and lead to an earlier election, and the NDP and Bloc are the deciding votes on whether that happens, so they are using that leverage to get the lib government to push their policies. So it's basically just the libs trying to hold on to government by giving those parties deals and trying to push out something that might make them more popular going into 2025. Although I think 2025 is pretty baked, people want a different leader, Trudeau has been PM for 10 years and needs to step down, which he doesnt seem willing to do and Singh is a useless NDP leader. So here we are, a bunch of random half baked policies rolled out too quickly and not properly thought through.

[rocketpj]

Although I think 2025 is pretty baked, people want a different leader, Trudeau has been PM for 10 years and needs to step down, which he doesnt seem willing to do and Singh is a useless NDP leader.

I'd disagree with you about Singh.  It's due to the NDP agreement of the last few years that most of the good policies (including dental care and child care) have happened.  Historically the best things have come from the few periods when the NDP had some power over the governing Liberals (CPP, Employment Insurance, Canada Health Act, Dental Care, Child Care, Indigenous Reconciliation etc).  Usually the Liberals campaign on those things as if they invented them on their own, but they never do anything  of the sort when they have a majority.

[sixwings]

Yeah that’s fair, what I meant was more electorally. The NDP doesn’t seem to be doing a good job of picking up the working class, the NDP should be doing better than they are and I think a big reason is that Singh isn’t very good at connecting to them for whatever reason.

[Missy B]

I think it's setting the stage for a permanent cut to the GST as opposed to a carbon tax cut (which is the opposition platform).  This is a dry run.

It was a bit dumb however not to account for the impact on the 5 provinces that have the HST and how their budgets got cut without their permision.

Well, that's classic for this federal government. There's a laundry list of things they changed without any consultation whatsoever. From what I hear from my clients on the business/industry side, they are pretty unique across parties and previous govts in that level of disconnect.
Throw it in the air, let everybody else catch it. Don't think about whether your'e adding unneccesary cost or complication, or whether what you wanted could have been done a better way for everyone.