The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Adding a 7 per cent tax on food from restaurants will lead to a $42,800 drop in sales for the average restaurant, leaving these small businesses with little choice but to cut jobs and hours, says says Mark von Schellwitz, CRFA Vice President, Western Canada. The surprise recommendation to put a 7 per cent provincial sales tax on restaurant meals appeared in the final report of the Boughen Commission on Saskatchewan education funding. "A new 7 per cent meal tax will accelerate the exodus of young people from Saskatchewan," says von Schellwitz. "We're talking about small businesses that employ people in communities across the province. If sales fall this dramatically, they will have no alternative but to make up the difference by reducing their labour costs. Unfortunately, the biggest impact will be on young workers getting their first-job experience or working to pay for their education." Nearly half of Saskatchewan's restaurant employees Ð or 17,500 people Ð are under the age of 24. In the last four years Saskatchewan had a net exodus of 14,650 young people, and the government says it's a priority to attract and retain young people. "In fact, this new tax will have precisely the opposite effect and force more young people to seek work outside the province," says von Schellwitz. Saskatchewan's restaurant industry employs 36,000 people in 1,800 locations across the province.
