Federal Budget 2023: Sales and Excise Tax Measures
Alcohol Excise
Alcohol excise duties are automatically indexed to total Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation at the beginning of each fiscal year (i.e., on April 1st). Budget 2023 proposes to temporarily cap the inflation adjustment for excise duties on beer, spirits and wine at 2%, for one year only, as of April 1, 2023.
Cannabis Taxation – Quarterly Duty Remittances
Excise duties are imposed on cannabis products, and are generally remittable on a monthly basis. Budget 2022 brought forward a measure that allowed certain smaller licensed cannabis producers to remit excise duties on a quarterly basis. Budget 2023 proposes to allow all licensed cannabis producers to remit excise duties on a quarterly rather than monthly basis, starting from the quarter beginning on April 1, 2023.
Air Travellers Security Charge
The Air Travellers Security charge (ATSC) is generally paid by passengers when they purchase airline tickets. Budget 2023 proposes to increase ATSC rates by 32.85%, noting that these rates were last increased in 2010, at which time they were raised by 52.4%. The proposed new ATSC rates will apply to air transportation services that include a chargeable emplanement on or after May 1, 2024, for which any payment is made on or after that date. The charge for a domestic one-way flight will rise from $7.48 to $9.94. The transborder charge will increase from $12.71 to $16.89, and the charge for other international travel will increase from $25.91 to $34.42. These rates include the GST or federal portion of HST
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