Garden of Daisies

Amusement Tax

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?

3 comments July 22nd, 2007

Goldfish Memory

I just saw a movie I really really enjoyed. I have been taking a Celtic film course this year as part of my I-now-study-Ireland-because-I’m-learning-about-my-heritage plan. It has been a great experiance but with only a few exceptions most of movies have been either dark, or depressing or both. Even the more up-beat films (such as Trainspotting, and Divorcing Jack) were incredibly dark in the subject matters they were dealing with.

Goldfish Memory was a welcome change from this trend. Although many of the shots gave the appearance of a 90s Canadian or UK made TV show (and thus were somewhat less-than-awesome), the storylines were refreshing, and exciting and fun. My whole class was laughing. I walked out feeling light and airy, but without that ‘yuck-I-wasted-an-hour-and-a-half’ that often accompanies romantic comedies.

Definitely suggest watching it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab0DeoOlvQM]

Add comment April 4th, 2007