You say you have a 14-year-old “child” at home who’s part teenager, part refrigerator-raiding eating machine? You say this rapidly growing “child” is tougher to buy clothes for than Dustin Byfuglien, back when he was the biggest net-blocker in peewee hockey history?
Then you may be one of many B.C. parents who buys adult-sized clothes and shoes for their kids.
And I’m not just talking about big-boned boys who make the football team. I talked to a mom the other day who’s been buying adult-sized clothes and shoes for her daughter since she was 11.
If you’re a parent who falls into this category, I have two things to say to you: I think I’ll be joining you in a few years, because my own five-year-old, real-life version of Bam Bam is growing faster than an HST petition.
And you’d better get your lovable teenage Gigantor down to the mall and buy some new clothes before July 1 — the day the government slaps that HST on your kid’s clothes.
That’s right: The harmonized sales tax will apply to adult-sized clothes and shoes, even if you buy those clothes or shoes for a kid who’s under age 15. The price you pay will rise by seven per cent.
It’s just one more sneaky way this brutal consumer tax is going to hurt B.C. families. Here’s how it’s being done:
Currently, adult-sized clothes are taxed with both the five-per-cent GST and the seven-per-cent provincial sales tax. But buyers of adult-sized clothes for kids can fill out a form called the “Certificate of Exemption for Children’s Clothing and Footwear” and they won’t be charged the PST. Copies of these forms are usually kept on hand by the store, and the consumer receives the PST rebate right at the cash register.
Those forms — and those seven-per-cent, point-of-sale rebates — are being eliminated when the combined HST comes in.
Under the HST, only clothing in child sizes up to Size 16 for girls and Size 20 for boys will receive a seven-per-cent rebate. Ditto for children’s shoes up to kids’ Size 6, and non-numerical-sized clothing and footwear marked “small,” “medium” or “large.”
If you need “extra large” clothes or shoes for a child — or you need to buy adult-sized clothes or footwear for that kid — get set to cough up the entire 12-per-cent HST.
No more form to fill out. No more rebate. Just shut up and pay up. Even if you’re buying those clothes or shoes for a child.
In other words, the government is changing the definition of a “child” under its tax laws. No longer will a child be defined according to age, but according to size.
How much more will this cost B.C. parents? The government won’t say, and told me it doesn’t keep records of how much PST is rebated now.
But, on Monday, I heard Finance Minister Colin Hansen brag once again that children’s clothing and footwear will be exempted from the provincial portion of the HST. What he always fails to mention is that big kids who don’t meet his new definition of “children” will be taxed extra.
Hey, Mr. Hansen: A child is a child, no matter what size. You are going to tax clothes and shoes purchased for kids that were not taxed before. Your new tax is unfair.
Even a child — even a great big one — could understand that.
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