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Restaurants still counting cost of HST
Survey says HST negatively affects 72%
Tessa Holloway tholloway@nsnews.com
MANY regulars at the Tomahawk Barbeque got a bit of a jolt when they checked their bill for the first time after July 1. “They’ll look at the bill and say, ‘Woah, when did your prices go up?’ “We’ve got quite a few comments on that and we have to say ‘Just a minute, no, it didn’t,’” said owner Chuck Chamberlain. The added cost is because of the Harmonized Sales Tax that came into effect that day, and a new survey of B.C. restaurants by the Canadian Restaurants and Foodservices Association suggests restaurants are being hard hit by the new tax. According to the survey, 72 per cent of restaurants said the HST is having a negative impact on their business, with an average drop of 10 per cent compared to July last year. Three per cent of businesses saw a positive impact. Like several North Shore restaurants, Chamberlain said business has been slower in the summer, but he couldn’t say for sure the HST increase is the cause. “This time of year it’s not unusual for the white-tablecloth places to slow down. Most of the people are out of town and this year tourism is down, so I think there’s a lot of other things affecting the decline,” he said. One thing he has noticed is that his regular customers are cutting back. See Owners page 8
Film industry spotlights lower costs because of HST Tessa Holloway
tholloway@nsnews.com
WHILE restaurants and consumers cry foul over the HST, businesses connected to the North Shore’s film industry are singing its praises.
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
CHUCK Chamberlain, owner of North Vancouver’s iconic Tomahawk Restaurant, says business is not so skookumchuck since the HST took effect July 1. Chamberlain says regulars have noticed the hit to their pocket books and are either coming to the restaurant less often or ordering less.
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What’s lowering production costs? “Just about every single thing we purchase,” said Peter Leitch, president of North Shore Studios and chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C. Previously exempt goods and services such as restaurant bills and, ironically, movie theatre snacks come under the combined 12 per cent tax, with the result that consumers are paying more because of the HST. However, many businesses are actually paying less. See Lower page 5
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