Manitoba provincial sales tax rate drops to 7% on Canada Day

Manitoba’s provincial sales tax rate is officially 7 per cent as of midnight Monday.

The provincial Progressive Conservative government announced on March 7 that the provincial sales tax would be reduced from 8 per cent.

The drop comes exactly six years to the day after the then-NDP government increased the sales tax to 8 per cent.

The PC party campaigned in the last provincial election on a promise to reduce the PST.

The reduction comes just a few months before Manitobans head to the polls in an early election.

Finance Minister Scott Fielding has previously called it the biggest tax cut in Manitoba’s history. This means about $325 million in annual savings for Manitobans, Fielding said in March.

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For 2019, a single person will save about $86, and a four-person household will save about $239 in the six months the tax is reduced. For 2020, a single person will see about $174 in savings, and a four-person household will save just under $500.

Manitoba now has the third-lowest PST in the country. Alberta has no sales tax, while Saskatchewan has a 6 per cent PST.

With files from Elisha Dacey