PST increases not drawing favourable reaction from Sask. public, golf industry

Many Saskatchewan residents don’t seem thrilled with the province’s most recent budget.

“I think we’re being taxed enough as it is,” Steve commented on the provincial sales tax (PST) now being added to purchases like tickets to concerts and Saskatchewan Roughriders games, as well as green fees at golf courses.

Jim was a bit more understanding of the government’s position.

“Whatever you need to do to bring in the revenue is what you need to do,” he said. “You get a lot of people going to Rider games.”

One teenager shared that the cost of fun things as a kid — Riders games and concerts included — was already too high.

“As a kid it’s like … save up, but it’s going to be more expensive,” he shared.

Cheryl Taylor said the increase in cost is unfortunate but won’t make too much of a difference for her. For the amount of times she attends events like a concert or Rider game, the extra tax won’t deter her from going.

Budget no hole in one

“It’s not great for us,” said Humboldt Golf Club general manager Corey Schweitzer.

He explained that PST is usually included already in the price amount for green fees and most golf courses would have already budgeted those fees prior to the season.

He said that’ll make for a six per cent drop in revenue for the amount it impacts this season — a price he said they’ll probably absorb for now.

“I think anytime you have a six per cent hit to your revenue, it’s going to be a big thing to your business,” Schweitzer said.

He said some warning from the government would have been appreciated.

“We do our budgeting much prior to the season, and so if we were going to have to budget that in, it would have been nice to have a little bit of a heads up,” Schweitzer said.

However, with the new tax not being added to fees until October — about the end of the golf season — he said that gives some time for the industry to prepare.

“I think we can make adjustments for next year based on the advertised price,” he said.

The hit isn’t one he thinks most golf courses would want to absorb, so ultimately the hike in price will likely fall to the golfers.

That doesn’t mean he thinks leisure activities should be seeing added taxes, though.

“There’s a case and an argument to be made that they’re essential to people’s well-being, so I don’t think they need to pay more for those, necessarily,” he said. “They’re paying more for everything else.”