Shoppers hope to make the most of final days of federal tax holiday

The federal 'tax holiday' draws to a close on Saturday.

Shoppers are hoping to make the most of the final days of the federal tax holiday.

For the last two months, there has been a temporary GST/HST break on several items, including children’s toys, electronics, and books. The break also extended to restaurants.

“I’m not sure that it’s easy to pin down any tangible benefit from the tax break,” said McLatchy, owner of Celtic Corner – a restaurant in downtown Dartmouth, N.S.

McLatchy said the lure of saving taxes didn’t bring in any additional customers over the last couple of months. He said the restaurant typically does well through the generally quieter months of January and February, thanks in part to airing different sporting events, as well as the benefits from local festivals in downtown Dartmouth.

“Our experience was that people weren’t necessarily motivated by the tax break to come in. When you mentioned it, they were happy about it, but it wasn’t the reason they were in the pub,” he said.

Overall, the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission (DDBC) said the tax holiday did have a positive impact.

“It had people thinking about buying local,” said Tim Rissesco, CEO of the DDBC.

“It came along at a good time. January is generally a slow time, so any kind of incentive to get people out and about is worth it.”

With the break about to end, Rissesco said there are other ways governments can support businesses year-round.

“I think that they need to look at general taxation for businesses,” he said. “I think the municipality needs to look at the commercial tax rate. It’s getting more and more expensive to have commercial properties.”

As for shopper Maddison Wilson, the end of the tax holiday is coming too soon.

“I think I’ve been in a bit of a stock up mentality because you always need baby stuff, so it’s kind of nice for it to be tax free,” said Wilson. “I feel like it should always be tax free.”

Saturday is the final day of the tax break.

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