[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by #-3

Groceries? what what about candy/pop. maybe some hippys that don't understand nutrition take over and except organic food.
Clothing? is there a difference between $15 jeans, and $300 jeans?
Heat/Electric? is there a set sqft per person once this becomes unessential
Water?
Gas? or maybe we say bus passes are good enough?
Phone/Internet? nah communication isn't vital to participation in modern society
Home Appliances?


Essentials can cut pretty deep depending on your prospective, much deeper than GST accounts for. The working definition we have makes value judgements place buying bread higher than the value of getting to work, or dressing well enough to get a good job. Any way you look at it it's paternalistic. (and I support paternalism at times, I'm just saying to make exceptions you need to make value judgements, and there is a lot of room for disagreement).

1. The supply of basic groceries, which includes most supplies of food and beverages marketed for human consumption (including sweetening agents, seasonings and other ingredients to be mixed with or used in the preparation of such food or beverages), is zero-rated. However, certain categories of foodstuffs, for example, carbonated beverages, candies and confectionery, and snack foods are taxable. If a product's tax status is in doubt, the CRA will consider the manner in which the product is displayed, labelled, packaged, invoiced and advertised to determine its tax status.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...#_Toc155586101


We already do this. As to the other items, that's why there is a rebate for low income people.