Small business and restaurant groups want sales tax breaks for patrons. With the current cash crunch because of food prices, 2 Kelly’s Café owner Kelly Oxelgren says costs are adding up. “Skyrocket, like absolutely skyrocket,” Oxelgren said. Despite that she hasn’t raised her menu prices in over a year, but that can’t last forever. “We’re in a really tight position too, where we have to increase prices, but we’re petrified to you know, the consumers are already spending so much,” Oxelgren said. Last summer, the provincial government cut the 7 per cent PST from all groceries. Businesses groups called on the province to extend that break to restaurants. Now, as part of their pre-budget submission to the NDP government, The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is renewing calls to remove the PST from dine-in and take-out meals, with a throne speech coming next week. Brianna Solberg from the CFIB says this would level the playing field. “They’d love to serve local consumers and if we remove the tax on it, it simply makes dining out less expensive,” Solberg said. In late 2024, the then-Trudeau government gave restaurants and others a temporary GST holiday, which did partially reduce food inflation at the time. Restaurants Canada President Kelly Higginson says the group wanted Ottawa to make a similar but permanent move in last week’s federal budget, as she says the one-time holiday paid off across Canada. “Led to an 8.6 per cent…increase in restaurant spending, and the creation, and this is where it gets really significant, the creation of 24,000 food service jobs,” Higginson said. But these measures come with their own price tag for governments. The province estimated the costs of taking PST off groceries at $32 million a year. Still, Oxelgren says a permanent sales tax cut should be in order, so customers can afford to eat out. “People are having a hard time paying for things, you know groceries, costs are so up,” Oxelgren said. “It’s nice to be able to gather and be able to just have that experience.” CTV News has reached out to the provincial government for comment and has not yet received a response.
