The province of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, has made renewable energy a little cheaper courtesy of the exemptions from the Provincial Sales Tax system (PST).
The exemptions include solar hot water, solar PV, wind-generated electricity and micro-hydro systems and are effective as from April 1st. Details of the exemptions are outlined in the provincial government’s ‘energy conservation’ category of the PST exemption list. Instead of the 12 percent Harmonised Sales Tax (HST) applied to these systems, there will only be a 5 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST). That means the price of a $6,800 solar hot water system which would have included an HST tax of $816 will only include $340 in tax thereby creating a saving of almost $500.
During the summer of 2011 residents of British Columbia took part in a province-wide referendum on HST and voted to eliminate it in favour of the PST and GST tax systems. The renewable energy systems listed join a variety of other goods such as food, books and children’s clothing.
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