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NS: Tax increase won’t change shopping habits, says Steele
By Darrell Cole, Transcontinental Media
Source: Amherst Daily News, April 19, 2010
[AMHERST, NS] - Cross-border shopping is a tradition in Cumberland County that shouldn’t be impacted by an increase in the harmonized sales tax, says Nova Scotia’s finance minister.
Graham Steele, who was in Amherst on Friday for a series of meetings with community leaders, said a two per cent tax hike alone should not result in a flood of shoppers across the border to New Brunswick from Amherst and Cumberland County.
“I don’t think anybody believes the HST increase in itself is going to make a difference once way or the other, but everybody agrees there is an issue of cross-border shopping,” Steele said following those meetings on Friday. “It has as much to do with the proximity of Moncton as anything else and that’s not something that I’m not going to take the blame for.”
Steele used the opportunity to release the findings of a study commissioned by his department on the impact of Sunday shopping that showed Moncton, not Sackville, is the primary destination of cross-border shoppers from Cumberland County.
Thinkwell Research conducted a telephone survey of 800 Cumberland and Westmorland County residents to determine cross-border shopping behaviour. By watching the data provided by the survey, Steele said the government will know in six months or a year if the tax increase has made a difference.
“This gives us a baseline to work with. If we do a survey in six months and 12 months from know we may find that people’s behaviour hasn’t changed, and we’ll know the HST didn’t make a difference,” the minister said. “If the data shows a difference then we’ll have to stop and determine what we can do. I’m very much a believer in recognizing people’s emotions, but when you’re making decisions you have to do it on the basis of facts.”
The survey found that pricing is an important factor for routine purchases like gasoline, clothing and tobacco, but selection and variety is the main factor for major purchases like electronics, appliances and furniture. Also while cross-border shopping has existed for generations, the survey found most households make less than a quarter of their purchases in New Brunswick.
Also, contrary to what politicians in New Brunswick are saying, Steele remains convinced that province is going to have to act to deal with its own budget problems and that the tax gap on things like gasoline and the HST will be narrowed.
Steele said does not want to ignore the potential impact of cross-border shopping on the area and is looking at striking a working group, involving some key local business leaders, to look at what strategies have been tried in other border towns across the country.
“Canada is made up of border towns with at least 80 per cent of the population living within a few hours of the U.S. border,” the minister said. “Amherst’s issues with cross-border shopping are real, but they’re also real for hundreds of other communities across the country who are either close to the American border or the border with another province.”
The minister said he wants to learn from those other towns to determine what has worked and not worked so that the best information is available when decisions have to be made to minimize the impact of cross-border shopping.
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Comments:
“I’m very much a believer in recognizing people’s emotions, but when you’re making decisions you have to do it on the basis of facts.”
Ha, if you were in touch with real people and small business you would realize this tax increase is a disaster waiting to happen. By the time you do your surveys and evaluations the damage will be done. I personally as a small businessman in this province will do whatever I can to avoid paying 2% more in tax and if it means a trip to New Brunswick to buy in bulk I will do so and I don’t live in the counties you are surveying. It is human nature and common sense that if you can save money by shopping elsewhere you will. It is nothing short of incredible that this idiot is running things we are in big trouble and need a change now before it’s too late.
How many of our tax dollars was spent on this no brainer survey????
I live in Amherst, just a very short drive from Sackville and Moncton NB. Mr. Steele is right, it won’t change shopping habits, I will continue to go to NB.
Graham Steele is out of touch, and misleading us. We have 30-50% income tax, and then pay a 30% gas tax, and sales tax, and property tax. It is amazing there is anything left to buy anything with at all. The extra 2% he ambushed us with is not acceptable. Yet he always implies that if the government had cutbacks, the same as any other organization trying to balance its budget, that it would only be teachers and nurses laid off. More misleading exaggeration. Let’s just reduce the government (through attrition if the union is too strong), and not increase sales tax. Reducing the government when budgets wont’ balance is not even in the vocabulary of most politicians.
Our Minister of Finance is reading his own press releases again. A difficult situation has been made worse and now he is ruled by surveys and opinion polls, just like the other governments he was so critical of. He is also unware of the effect that $300 million taken out of the economy and used to pay borrowing costs over the next four years. Now he wants us to believe that the situation in Cumberland county won’t be worse. My gawd this man is arrogant!
It is imbelievable what the finance minister says here. He is in fact the financial expert and he should know better. I trust he knows better. Where ever in this world taxes (VAT/HST) are increased it a l w a y s impacted sales. Nova Scotia is no longer a “cheap area”, for the common Nova Scotia wages did not go up and all taxes and costs went up. over the last 10 years. From the Atlantic Superstore to the NS Power bills.
If the minister should take all effects on the household and commercial finances into account …….well he is member of a government team that took care of them selves tremendously, what does he know about the day to day financial struggle of the common Nova Scotian.
The man is blind for reality and lives in a self consstructed dream. Well keep on dreaming, you Nova Scotians are kind and accept almost every decision taken by your government. Even if it makes them poor Nova Scotians. They need to solve the huge, huge deficid this and previous governments created. Again taking care of themselves, allowing related business men great bonusses.
The group of Nova Scotians, ruling Business Men and Governement people, having the power and the monies, they could not care less about you the common Nova Scotian, private- or business people “out fo the circle” of the have it all. Poor Nova Scotians.
Arthur
NS is doomed with the NDP in charge. Guaranteed. All the people who voted for them I’m sure are shaking their heads in disbelief. Disgrace this NDP
Steele is out of his mind and thinks we’re all STUPID by using OUR TAX $$$ to commission all these redundant studies while structuring them to give the result HE WANTS!!! This is similar to the way BIG DRUG operates - every time they pass out an envelope with some research money, there’s always a SECOND envelope showing the RESULTS they want.
That “Whiz Kid” Sterling Belliveau used similar logic on BIO-SOLIDS in Sunday’s Herald when he basically stated, “imagine what this CRAP will do if we just dump it into the environment - it will be SO much better if we just dump it on our food supply”!!! Anyone have something for depression???
Just another example of this Govts.bonehead approach to economics,3 more years of these guys in power and we”ll all be heading west.
What a twit.
Hire a company to produce the result you want to demonstrate, pay them exhorbitant fees (with OUR money which should have gone to the deficit instead), and then use that to tell us “drones” that higher prices will not affect sales.
Confirms how the electorate at large is perceived by the very politicians we are foolish enough to trust.
Maybe they are right, maybe we are all idiots. If not idiots, we are at the very least complacent, ineffective, unable and maybe even too scared to react, or else we’d be shooting these thieves or stringing them up.
How long would our grandfathers have put up with this drek?
Not long, I’m sure.
My kingdom for one honest man.
Amusing and yet the funniest part is that anyone believes the folk that voted NDP would second-guess their vote now. The bulk of those folk are probably not yet aware of the tax grab and won’t be until July 1rst….at which point they’ll probably think it was something the previous Gov’t had already forced on them :)
PS. Mr. Steele, I live in Halifax and yet I just purchased my new car in New Brunswick in protest of your facile policies.
I will out of protest not buy another thing in Nova Scotia as long as this government is in power. I will make the extra time to journey to NB. Their economy at least will see a boost. This government is too narrowminded and ignorant of the consequences of their actions and unfortunately Nova Scotians will suffer. I refuse to support their ignorance.
Your right Mr Steele Ill be shopping the USA! so long as our dollar is good… lol
What in the name of time happened to smart Nova Scotians that we would allow such an inexperienced group of what evers take controll of the purse strings of this Province. We deserve every thing this present government dishes out and believe me we are just seeing the honeymoon so what does this happy marriage have in store for us. Mr. Dexter and Mr. Steele have just got into the loto and what a cash cow these tax payers will be.