Do gas stations where you are include the tax in the price. They appear to in Calgary - the price you see at the pump is the price you pay. I don't know if gas is GST able but the receipt I receive states that GST is included.

If they can do it, why can't others?

The EU doesn't apply VAT to those outside. The benefit for the card carriers is that the item costs them less - result!

We were in the "why is it added on at the point of sale" group when we landed and before while on vacation here.

Now we are not bothered and dont even wurry about it at all. Also i have had a lot of cash purchases that have avoided the tax altogether. Incl our new air conditioner unit, car repairs and parts and RC plane parts. It has its advantages if you dont have to pay the tax.

Oh i'm not really that bothered about it. I just think it's a stupid ****ing system

The golf club i go to every now and again includes tax in the price. It's nice to know exactly how much i'm paying without much thought. Unlike elsewhere where i have to calculate additional %'s if i'm curious as to the cost.

Like i said, i'm lazy.

But that's possible anywhere that incurs tax if you pay cash to certain people

And consequences if you get found out. Not the smartest thing to do by announcing it on a forum.

Yeh i supose it does. But its deducted then rather than added on. Same thing i supose.

As it has been said, it is added onto gas already. Why? So as not to shock you when you fill up?

So both of you think people would be happy having 20% added to their bill at the till then? I very much doubt it.

Blimey, you've got a bit of a chip on your shoulder today.

But it's added anyway, either inclusive in the price or at the till. It doesn't make the item any less expensive to purchase.

One assumes that, as the electorate in the UK are not in open revolt against such a tax, they believe it is valid - pays for public sector pensions, welfare, supporting the banks, etc.

Not at all. I just find it bizarre that people accept that purchasers know what the tax is but don't know they are being charged said tax. To suggest they don't implies they are stupid. Iaink appears to accept this above.

I really don't care whether it is added or not. Due to the Province that I choose to live in, I simply have to add 5% to the appropriate purchases. I can do this.

I appreciate it may be more difficult in other Provinces, but I don't care about that

But you don't know if the underlying price is a good price that way.

It depends how you look at this, because when I lived in the UK I would often work out whether the VAT I was being charged was correct. I remember going into W H Smiths once and they incorrectly charged me VAT on a book I bought because their POS system was a POS.

If you're in the camp of people who work out what the price is without VAT, which you have to do if you're say, buying something for a business from a shop, then having the tax added afterward is easier to understand than having it included.

Why? It's the total price you pay, not the underlying price. Plus if you're inclined to understand the product price point without taking into account the final price, then deduct x% from the total.

Like i said earlier, which is the better valued product at the checkout?

Product A in Montana = $1100CAD
Product B in BC = $1000CAD + tax?

Then i'd say i was in the majority*

Plus my receipt tells me how much VAT i just paid
















*complete guess

Let's face reality, the only reason the UK does it the way they do is because the UK has tons of indirect taxes and they like to hide them as much as possible.

Like I said, just on the basic principle of the thing the Canadian method makes the taxes more transparent. I mean, look at the protests against HST in BC, all of a sudden people immediately notice that the rate went from 5% to 12% on certain things, they sit there with their calculators, figure out how much more they're paying and launch a massive protest that forced the Premier to resign. Bearing in mind that the previous rate of GST+PST was 12% so it's a relatively small number of things that suddenly went to 12%, not everything.

Rate goes from 17.5% to 20% across the board in the UK, hardly anyone says anything.

BC obviously. You still have to pay the HST at the POE so clearly there is no point going to the trouble of going to Montana. This is one reason why you need to see the price without tax, because you've just saved yourself a trip.