In Canada there are three types of sales taxes: provincial sales taxes or PST, the federal Goods and Services Tax or GST, and the Harmonized Sales Tax or HST.
Every province except Alberta implements a Provincial Sales Tax or the Harmonized Sales Tax. The Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not have any type of regional sales tax. The federal GST rate is 5% effective January 1, 2008.
Harmonized Sales Tax
The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is used in certain provinces to combine the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) into a single, blended, sales tax. Currently, there is a 13% HST in the provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. The HST is collected by the Canada Revenue Agency, which then remits the appropriate amounts to the participating provinces,.
Provincial Sales Taxes
Separate Provincial Sales Taxes (PST) are collected in the provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island. Goods to which the tax is applied varies by province, as does the rate. Moreover, for those provinces whose provincial sales tax is applied to the combined cost and GST, provincial revenues decline or increase with respective changes in the GST.
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