Christmas tax break will be 'challenging' for small businesses, says gift shop owner

Tom Fincher is all for a tax break for consumers but implementing the GST tax break announced by the federal government last week at his till will be easier said than done.

“We think it's going to be challenging - we'll do it, but, this is being downloaded on us in a hurry, at the busiest time of the year, and that's a real concern,” said Fincher, the owner of Fincher’s in Goderich Ont., a well-known gift shop in the shoreline town.

Fincher said simply changing over cash registers and point of sale machines to charge the GST or HST on some items and not others will cost small businesses money.

“We had a quote yesterday at $160 an hour - and this company is reputable, and that's what it’s going to cost if we want to update our equipment, and change it over. Now, we've come up with a fix of our own, but other businesses may not be fortunate enough to do that. It could be thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of work to prepare their cash tills for these two months,” said Fincher.

The Federal Government is offering Canadians a break from paying the GST and HST on everything from food and beverages to books and Christmas trees from December 14 to February 15. Small businesses frankly don’t know what to expect.

Colin Carmicheal, Huron Chamber of Commerce (L), and Tom Fincher (R), of Fincher’s discuss the new GST holiday for Canadians, and the impact on small business, November 22, 2024 (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“What they've really done here is downloaded the administrative cost of this tax cut onto small business owners - and it's going to cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for every business owner to update their systems, make the changes they need to make, and then undo all of that two months later,” said Colin Carmichael, Director of the Huron Chamber of Commerce.

Along with not yet knowing exactly what the tax break applies to in his store, Fincher is just worried about the unknown surrounding this short term tax policy, that has landed in his lap, and the lap of most retail business owners in Canada.

“Is it going to hurt business going into that time? But then it's going to make things more crazy potentially for us. We don't know, we've never done this. But, if I was a men's clothing store, I would be disappointed that I'm not getting the same treatment for my customers, with this tax break,” he said.

“Whatever extra business they're able to generate through this tax break, it’s going to be offset by the administrative costs of implementing it,” believes Carmichael.

To learn more about Canada’s temporary GST holiday you can visit the federal website for the program.