Canadian Sales Tax Rant

Oh the horror...
Caprice,

I believe I pay GST on my condoms too.

But let's think about this for a minute...How many tampons do you require in a month? I don't know...but I'd guess that it's somewhere between 5-20?

From doing a quick search online I discovered that for 20 tampons you're going to pay somewhere between $4-$8...but because it's late and I want my calculations to be easy I'm going to say that it costs $10.00 for 20 tampons.

So you buy 20 tampons/month @ $10. That's $120/year on tampons. Multiply that $120 by .07 (7% GST) and you've got $8.40/year.

Over the course of your lifetime I'm guessing you would need tampons for about 40 years? - maybe 50?

That would mean throughout you're entire lifetime you would spend between $336-$420 on tax for your tampons.

Remember that I used inflated numbers for the equation...it's more likely between $100-$200/lifetime expenditure on GST on tampons.

Is that really worth kicking and screaming about?

If you want to talk about ridiculous amounts of tax just work out how much the gvmt's take is on every one of my packs of cigs.

Have a good night.

-Jer-

Age and maturity might lend you some perspective, Jer. It is likely less about the money than it is about the principle involved. A woman has every right to consider these items a necessity as opposed to a luxury. Alexandre de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America that it is not great issues which cause men to rebel, rather, it is the little things. In the case of the United States, a great deal of it had to do with a penny tax on a sheet of paper used for an official document.

The point is not the actual cost--and by the way, who wouldn't want that extra few hundred dollars?

I'm gonna add to the rant too, apparently toothpaste falls into the same catagory. It pisses me off too. I mean, a box of doughnuts is tax free????

It also occurred to me, later, that given that these items are not considered necessities, they likely are not exempted from provincial sales taxes, either. In Ontario, that's 8%. Total tax is, therefore, 15%, meaning the cost is more than twic what Jer calculated. I was also amused to see his caluculation of how many tampons or sanitary napkins would be required in a month's time. I guess he's never been sufficiently chivalrous to swallow his pride and buy tampons or napkins for his sweetiepie. The thought doesn't bother me at all, and i've bought the large, "economy-size" package in the past, when asked to do so.

Yer, a good man Set.

Good point on PST. We don't have it here in Alberta, yet. I think all the other provinces have it though and are either 7 - 8% on the total, cost and GST, so in most places an item is taxed an extra 15%.

It sounds to me like you don't need to change the law, you need to get rid of it completely. Geesh!

So, extrapolating from what's been said here, it looks like all "personal hygine products" aren't exempt? Is that accurate?

I'm not sure if they are here or not... Interestink.

Couldn't you go see a doctor and get a prescription for sanitary products?

Lets see if I can paint you a picture. A prescription would be unneccessary becasue, you see, it's not a medical condition, a disease........ Just a fact of life.

15% checking in here.


the female plumbing supplies can certainly add up - sometimes 3 or 4 different products - and not necessarily 12 times a year - remember it's a freakin' lunar cycle. Sooo, 13 times a year - about $25 a cycle - 35 years so far for me x 15% = $1706.25 taxes. That'd be a nice little vacation.

Re: Oh the horror...


Typical male response. You can't POSSIBLY think that feminine hygiene products are a luxury! Besides, you're only counting tampons. There are pads and pany liners too. Your calculations give a too low figure.

[quote="Jer']If you want to talk about ridiculous amounts of tax just work out how much the gvmt's take is on every one of my packs of cigs.[/quote]

You'll get no sympathy from me on something that is not only a choice by you, but a health hazard that will likely cost taxpayers money in the end when you end up with a respiratory problem of one type or another down the road.

And without going into details, I use more products than most women. (Long story too.) I could save a bundle!

Just more reason's I am happy being male.

Setanta,

I understand the principle - I was being playful. That's why I led with the condoms, which certainly aren't a luxury either.

I have purchased female hygiene products for various girlfriends over the years, but generally it's just to get through a certain period and I always ask for explicit instructions.

But thanks for the assumption on whether or not I've ever been "chivalrous to swallow his pride and buy tampons or napkins for his sweetiepie."

Cheers,

-Jer-

edit: I said "year" and meant to say "years".

Well, Jer, your calculations of how much a woman would spend on these products lead me to believe that you knew precious little about the subject, because my immediate response was that the estimate was way too low.