GST holiday wasn't easy for Calgary restaurants to implement at first, Alberta Hospitality Association says

Calgary restaurants initially had a hard time implementing the federal government's tax holiday on select goods and services, the Alberta Hospitality Association (AHA) says.

Ernie Tsu, owner of Trolley 5 and president of the AHA, told CBC News it was difficult for restaurants to adjust to not adding taxes to certain items.

"It was not very detailed until about a week before it actually came out on what exactly we would not be charging GST on," Tsu said. "But now that it's implemented, we're in a pretty good flow right now."

He added while a tax break almost certainly helps consumers and industry, he hasn't noticed many of his customers acknowledging the lack of GST on their bills.

Dec. 14 marked the beginning of the Liberal government's two-month GST/HST holiday that it says will give Canadians a break on the cost of some essential goods.

In order for an item to be sold tax-free between Dec. 14, 2024 and Feb. 15, 2025, it must be paid for in full and delivered by the end of the tax break period.

Items will be considered delivered once they are transferred from a supplier to a shipping service, or when they are put in the mail, rather than when they arrive at their destination, the federal government said, adding shoppers do not need to do anything to get the tax break, the GST or HST should simply not be charged at the time of purchase.

Tsu welcomes any type of savings, especially in the current economy, but he hasn't seen a boom in people going out to eat more often because of the GST holiday, even though his business is doing well.

"We haven't really seen people talking about it except for the political fallout of it, but it's been a very good Christmas season so far," Tsu said.

"We definitely don't hear customers holding pompoms out saying 'Oh, the five per cent!'"

Trolley 5 patron Adam Christmas says he's aware of the GST holiday, but not having to pay five per cent in taxes won't make much of a difference to his wallet.

"I'm just spending money like I normally would. It's not motivating me to get out, spend more money here and there," Christmas said. "But I sure appreciate it a little bit. It's nice, it's a nice gesture."

He says because he doesn't have to pay taxes on his meal, he throws in a little extra when it comes time to tip.

Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president of Western Canada at Restaurants Canada claims every percentage of tax dropped will amount to a percentage gained in sales.

"For the average Alberta restaurant that's about $5,700 a month or about $11,000-$12,000 in extra sales, which certainly helps," von Schellwitz said.

A casual family style restaurant will benefit more from the tax break than a fine dining restaurant, he says, but with January being a traditionally slow month for the industry, von Schellwitz hopes the GST holiday will help.

"Perhaps they order that extra drink or they order that dessert that they may not have ordered beforehand. So even those incremental sales are really helpful at a time like this," he said.

He welcomes the GST break and even advocated to make it permanent on all foods served at restaurants.

"What we're really pushing for, given the terrible year we had in the food service industry... we wish they would make it permanent and and reestablish food tax fairness across the board," von Schellwitz said. 

He added the Alberta restaurant industry as a whole will likely save $135 million because of the current tax holiday.