What Goes Around . . .
By Marcel Strigberger
A sudden impulse struck me recently at my nearby Sobey's supermarket, causing me to buy a package of onion bagel chips.
For the uninitiated, this product consists of about one bagel or so, toasted, thinly sliced, and packaged. Unlike its virginal version which sells for about 40 cents, this bagel in its multiplied form goes for about $3.00 for the package.
As the cashier rang up the tab, I noticed that she was adding in the GST (Goods and Services Tax). I protested saying that surely there must be some mistake. "You can't charge me tax on a bagel," I said.
The cashier, one Lorraine replied, "The computer has rung up the tax. Therefore it must be OK".
That bit of logic did not sit well with me. I continued my eloquent protest.
"No it's not OK. Bagels aren't taxable."
I reinforced this compelling argument by making small circles in the air with my index finger.
The circles did not bolster my oratory with her. She summoned the manager for a second opinion. As we waited for the manager to arrive, a thought occurred to me. Did you notice every supermarket has at least one cashier called Lorraine?
The manager arrived. His name was Mr. Hobbs. He agreed with me that although slightly decimated, if you put all the bagel chips together you probably had one bagel. With that comment he also made a few circles in the air with his digit. We had instant rapport. A meeting of minds no doubt.
As I waited for Mr. Hobbs to order Lorraine to reverse her Draconian decree, the good manager remarked,"As much as we would like to, there is nothing we can do about the GST designation. You must write to Ottawa."
With that he went on to tell me about a new procedure whereby you can have your GST grievance dealt with by a special tribunal. He gave me additional details.
I ended up buying the bagel chips under protest. After lunch I fired off a letter to Ottawa:
Dear Sir/Madam, The supermarket recently charged me GST on a package of bagel chips. Surely as bread is exempt from GST there must be a mistake. Kindly refund my 21 cents. My cash register receipt is enclosed herewith. |
A reply form Ottawa was not long in coming. It read:
Dear Mr. Strigberger: Thank you for your letter. As you may know section 43(3 ) of the GLGST Act , or the Getting to Like the GST Act, provides for referees to inspect the products which are the subject matters of complaints. We have therefore referred this matter to the food and snacks division and a referee will be in touch with you shortly. In the meantime would you kindly send us a sample of the bagel chips in question. |
I figured I was on the right track.
I carefully wrapped up some bagel parts and mailed them to Ottawa. As I wanted the mini frisbees to arrive intact, I did not dare label the package "Fragile".
A couple of weeks later I received another letter:
Dear Mr. Strigberger: We have examined the bagel chips which you were good enough to send us. In order to be fair we did a taste test comparing the bagel chips to a bagel which we purchased at the King of Bagels Bakery. We also bought some cream cheese for the sake of completeness. |
As this is purely a matter of principle, I have of course launched my formal appeal to the Minister of Finance.
Although I am quite buoyant about the outcome, my wife Shoshana does not share my optimism and she is willing to bet me loonies to donuts that I'll probably just end up with the hole of the bagel.
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© 2007 Marcel Strigberger. This article CANNOT be copied or reproduced in any way without the expressed written consent of the Author.
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