Manitoba is one of the provinces in Canada that charges separate 7% provincial Retail Sales Tax (RST) and 5% federal Goods and Services Tax (GST). Most goods and services are charged both taxes, with a number of exceptions.
The previously announced RST rate reduction from 7% to 6% that were effective July 1, 2020 have all been deferred until further notice. This follows the previous decrease from 8% to 7% on July 1st, 2019.
There are categories of goods and services that are not charged PST. These are defined by Manitoba’s Retail Sales Tax Act. These rebates and exemptions are separate from the ones granted on a national level.
These categories include:
Many more goods and services are also exempt from the PST. You can find a comprehensive list here
Registered First Nations are exempt from the 7% RST for goods and services purchased on First Nations lands. See here for more details.
There are two types of exemptions for GST: direct exemptions and zero-rated goods and services. The difference is related to how businesses handle costs related to the exemptions, but as a consumer, you would not have to pay GST on items from either category.
Goods and services that are zero-rated from GST include:
Goods and services that are directly exempt from GST include:
Sales taxes make up a significant portion of Manitoba’s budget. Revenues from sales taxes such as the PST are expected to total $2.021 billion, or 22.1% of all of Manitoba’s taxation revenue, during the 2020 fiscal year. This is more than 40% of revenue from income taxes in Manitoba.
Sales taxes also contribute to the Canadian government’s budget. The 5% Goods and Services Tax is expected to bring $40.8 billion in tax revenue during the 2019 fiscal year. This amounts to 14.2% of total tax revenue on the federal level. This is almost double the amount Canada spends on national defence every year.