HST and Registered Massage Therapists’ Backgrounder
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Preamble
On July 23, 2009 British Columbia’s Premier and Minister of Finance announced their intention to harmonize (HST) the provincial sales tax (PST) with the federal goods and services tax (GST). The new 12% HST is derived from 7% PST and 5% GST and will come into effect on July 1, 2010.
Health Care & GST
The Massage Therapists’ Association of British Columbia (MTABC) and the Ontario Massage Therapists’ Association (OMTA) have lobbied the federal government for many years for exemption under the act. As well, the MTABC has actively worked with and supported other provinces, most recently Alberta, in their work toward achieving legislation in their province.
Under GST regulation, most healthcare professions are exempt. “The Government of Canada has adopted an objective approach to determining which services should be considered basic health care services and consequently be exempt from GST/HST. For example, if a service is covered by the health care plan of two or more provinces, it will be exempt from the GST/HST in all provinces. In addition, if a profession is regulated as a health profession by at least five provinces, the services of that profession will be exempt from the GST/HST in all provinces.”
In fact, on December 28, 2006 the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, announced the exemption of GST/HST for midwife services making them “more affordable” for women throughout Canada since they had achieved the regulation requirement.
Offsets/Tax Neutral
Businesses can offset (or balance) their GST/HST from the purchases they have made throughout the year for their business with sales - thereby neutralizing the tax.
RMTs simply do not have the offsets required to make this a revenue neutral tax because we do make significant purchases and primarily provide services, rather than goods, to our patients. Therefore the RMTs and ultimately their patient will pay the costs.
Average Cost
The HST will increase the average cost from $89.25 to $95.20 (or approx. $6.00) for a one-hour visit to an RMT.
British Columbia’s RMTs
BC’s RMTs have the highest standards of training in North America, arguably in the world. They are the only massage therapists in Canada regulated as primary health care providers under BC’s Health Professions Act. BC RMTs are accepted as service providers to Medical Services Plan (limited), WorkSafeBC, ICBC, Veterans Affairs, RCMP, independent police forces throughout the province, Coast Mountain Transit and all private extended health plans.
As of July 1, 2010, BC RMTs will be the only health care providers in the province required to charge HST to their patients. We believe this is discriminatory to our patients and profession. Further, it is not in keeping with governments’ commitment in the 2008 Throne Speech supporting musculoskeletal health and wellness.