HST increase noticed by some New Brunswickers, not by others

Beer drinkers didn't notice much of a difference in the HST over the weekend, but coffee drinkers weren't too happy the price of their medium double-double just went up three cents.

New Brunswick boosted its harmonized sales tax on July 1.

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The HST is now 15 per cent, an increase of two per cent that was noticed by Michael McGillivray at a Tim Hortons in Saint John.

"My medium coffee jumped from $1.82 to $1.85," he said. "We don't have pennies anymore, so I'll feel it on my debit card."

But beer drinkers didn't seem to be griping about it this weekend, he said.

Shawn Verner, co-owner of the Cask and Kettle Irish Pub, had to up his prices for their grand opening last week because of the HST.

Despite the increase, they still exceeded their sales expectations for the opening week. Verner just hopes it doesn't affect future sales.

"It's a big drag, I mean we don't want to charge this much for some of this stuff," he said. "I'd love to be able to sell them for $6 a pint, but I can't because I can't make our margins that way."

With the holiday wearing off, people are still in vacation mode and may not care as much, said Linda Cooke, a vendor at the City Market. She hopes that continues.

"I hope that reality doesn't set in until the beginning of the week or maybe not until the beginning of September," she said.

Some tourists, however, said the high sales tax would dissuade them from buying some items.

Catherine Pascarelli, who came in to Saint John on a cruise ship Saturday, was shocked with the high HST compared to her home state of New York, where the sales tax is only eight per cent.

"That's very high," she said, adding that "things are quite expensive to begin with."