GST holiday ends with mixed results for Saskatoon businesses

The GST holiday break is set to end, residents and small businesses say it hasn’t made much of a difference while other say it gave them a boost.

The federal government’s two-month GST holiday is ending on Saturday. While the tax break was aimed at helping cash-strapped Canadians, some Saskatoon residents and local businesses say they didn’t notice much of a difference.

The GST break came into effect on Dec. 14. It applies to certain items including food, beverages, restaurants, children’s clothes, books, and video games.

Saskatoon residents CTV News spoke with say it didn’t have a noticeable impact.

“Yeah, I haven’t noticed,” Hailey Flett responded when asked about the GST break.

Moneris reports that from Dec. 14 to Jan. 15, Saskatchewan was the only province to see an increase in spending – it was up by two per cent.

One comic bookstore owner says the tax holiday did bring in business.

“I would say about 75 per cent of people knew and were excited for it,” said Quentin Nordic, owner of Quentin’s Comics & Toys.

“I even had a few customers where they actually told me that’s why they came in for that item.”

Overall, data from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business shows only five per cent of small businesses saw stronger sales compared to this time last year, while about 66 per cent of businesses reported no noticeable change in sales.

Cole Thorpe, owner of Prairie Proud, says he hasn’t noticed a significant change. According to him the tax exemption mainly created confusion for customers.

“It just led to more confusing conversations with our customers in store who thought it applied to everything,” Thorpe said in an interview with CTV News.

The Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce said while it’s great for consumers to save a few dollars, most local stores didn’t see a boost in business.

“Was it a huge difference maker in terms of customer traffic through doors? Ultimately, sales and revenue for businesses, the answer’s no,” said Jason Aebig, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.