What are some popular consumer products?

What products are taxed and what are not, example-what consumer products have gst, pst both or non taxed.?

• iam starting a new job, Dollar Giant(everythings a dollar) no scanner at cash, the register has severel buttons( gst button, no tax button, both taxes button ect) I need to know what consumer products are taxed both, or one tax,gst....example is this true. food products,grocerys(foods you prepare, cake mix, tea ) has no taxes. But candy, gum, (prepared , ready to eat foods have both (gst and pst ) taxes, Please I need to find a complete list to print for my job.thanks

• Answer:

  As a former employee of CRA as a GST collections officer, I can give you a brief explanation of why some items are GST taxed and others are not. Most grocery items that are intended for home consumption and/or prepared from scratch are generally GST exempt. For example, if you buy a raw chicken from the grocery store, it would be exempt from GST. However, if you purchase a BBQ chicken ready to serve, then it would be subject to both GST and PST. Certain food items purchased in quantities of 6 are not GST taxed, since it is assumed they are for household use, whereas 1-5 of those same items purchased would be GST taxed. For example, if you buy 6 donuts or muffins from a local coffee shop, the total purchase would be GST exempt, since it appears that buying this quantity would be for home grocery use. But if you went to the local coffee shop and purchased, let's say, just 1 donut, or up to 5 donuts, you would be charged the 6% GST on these items. The GST was introduced in Canada back in 1991 to replace the old Federal Sales Tax, a tax which was built into the manufacturer's price. This tax was hidden, the average consumer in Canada had no idea that this tax even existed. As far as PST is concerned, in the province of Ontario, we pay PST on just about everything we purchase, with a few exceptions, for example, perscriptions filled over the counter by a pharmacist, take out meals that are less than $4.00 (You would still pay GST on this amount, but would save the PST). There are really not many items PST exempt in Ontario. Hope this helps you. And, do check out the link that TMLeaf Fan provided from CRA...it goes into a lot of detail about the GST.