Garden of Daisies

Amusement Tax

July 22nd, 2007

So I went to the movies the other night and guess what my reciept read?

Admission Price: $10.30
GST: $0.62
Amusement Tax: $1.03
Total: $11.95

Does everyone see it? Number three. Second from the bottom. Amusement tax?! What the heck is that?

I was with a group of four and not one of us had heard of this before. We asked three people working at the cinema, and not one of them had heard of it before…so I went home, looked it up, and guess what? The Province of Ontario charges an “amusement tax” on admission to, you guessed it, places of amusement! In fairness, I feel that the price of my entire ticket is somewhat of an amusement tax, but nevermind that.

So here it is, according to Wilfred Laurier University admission to places of amusement is a taxable service at 10%. According to this article on the history of film in Ontario the tax was instated in 1916 as a war tax. …sticking around a bit like the old income tax isn’t it?

Who knew?

Entry Filed under: Politics, Movies