For example, a half gallon of organic milk at Loblaws, the grocery chain that we frequent, sells for almost $6.00. Yes, a half gallon, not a gallon. In the US, I was able to buy a gallon of organic milk for about $6.00.
Or a bag of shredded cheese costs $7.99! And it is not even organic and you get roughly 4 cups of cheese...not that much cheese! The "no name" brand is $5.99. In case you don't believe me, I took a picture the last time I was at the store.
Also, it is a good thing I stocked up on diaper genie refills before we moved here. They cost $10.49 for one refill. Double what it cost us back in the USA.
And lets not forget about the taxes. There is the Quebec Provincial Sales Tax (PST)or(QST) rate is nominally 7.5%, but also a Federal 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a total tax of 12.5%. This total tax varies depending on what Province you reside in.
The following everyday items are taxed at the above rates:
Taxable food and beverages
Examples of taxable food and beverages are:
food heated for consumption (yes forzen meals are included in this category)
alcoholic beverages
hot beverages–such as coffee and tea
carbonated beverages
carbonated mineral water
candy
snacks–such as cheese sticks (really cheese sticks...isn't that a good snack???), pretzels, potato chips and popcorn
Non-taxed grocery items include the following:
meat–such as beef, poultry, pork, lamb, prepared meats and sausages
cereals
fruits
vegetables
eggs
bread
fish
dairy products–such as unflavoured milk, cheese, butter, cream and yogurt
As for not taxing "unflavored milk" does that mean are you taxed for chocolate milk???
If you go out to eat, be prepared to pay, in addition to higher prices for meals, GST and QST are applied to almost all products sold in the following establishments:
establishments providing food heated for immediate consumption
restaurant and hotel establishments
Case in point, last Thursday night I went out with a few other mom's after our pedicures, for a drink, a glass of wine and 2 appetizer, the total including tip was $39.38!
Gasoline is taxed at $0.152 per liter (in the US that would be roughly an additional .60 per gallon)
Alcohol
Alcoholic beverages sold at grocery stores, convenience stores or the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) for home consumption are taxed as follows:
$0.40 per litre for beer
$0.89 per litre for other alcoholic beverages
Insurance Premiums
You must pay a tax on insurance premiums, except for premiums paid for individual insurance of persons. Seriously!!
The tax rate for insurance premiums is 9%, except in the case of car insurance premiums where it is 5%. Note that this tax also applies to premiums paid to the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec.
Tobacco Tax
The tobacco tax applies to all tobacco products sold in Québec, other than those sold for resale purposes. The tobacco tax is calculated as follows:
Product Tax payable
Cigarettes $0.103 per cigarette
Loose tobacco $0.103 per gram
Leaf tobacco $0.103 per gram
Cigars 80% of the taxable price
Tobacco sticks, rolls or any other pre-rolled tobacco product designed for smoking (weight in grams x $0.1585 < $0.103) $0.103 per stick, roll or other product
Tobacco sticks, rolls or any other pre-rolled tobacco product designed for smoking (weight in grams x $0.1585 >= $0.103) $0.1585 per gram
Other tobacco products $0.1585 per gram
To confuse you even more, products and services for children are taxed completely different. Certain products and services designed for children and their well-being are zero-rated or exempt under the QST and GST systems.
The following services for children are exempt from QST and GST:
most child-care services
municipal recreation services for children aged 14 and under
certain educational services
The following products are zero-rated under the QST system but taxable under the GST system:
baby diapers
training pants designed specially for children
items used for breastfeeding
breast pumps (purchase or rental)
baby bottles (all types)
disposable liners required for certain types of baby bottles
The following products are taxable under both the QST and GST systems:
wet wipes for young children
Oh, and I can't forget when I went to the drs yesterday, I WAS TAXED!! I saw a naturopath for a hydrotherapy (colon cleanse) appointment. The appointment breakdown was as follows:
Hydrotherapy - $93.02
GST - $4.65
PST - $7.33
For a grand total of $105. We can submit this and be reimbursed, but really aren't taxes supposed to pay for healthcare and how can they tax healthcare??? Doesn't make too much sense to me. Does that make sense to you?
And in case we were not paying enough QST and GST, The 2009 Québec budget proposes an increase to 8.5% effective January 1, 2011.
All of the taxes are supposed to pay for infrastructure, health care and social programs. So far, I have noticed that the roads need a lot of work and the health care system is not that efficient and could stand to have improvements made. So, I ask, where is all of this money being spent??
I also wonder if with the passage of the new healthcare bill back in the US, what is going to happen to taxes and how is it going to be paid for. Maybe the US should have looked at the situation in other countries before they wished for what they got...
Tax information obtained from: http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/en/ministere/
