2021 Bill 29

	29


First Session, 50th General Assembly 70 Elizabeth II, 2021
BILL 29
AN ACT TO AMEND THE REVENUE ADMINISTRATION ACT NO. 3
Received and Read the First Time................................................................
Second Reading............................................................................................
Committee.....................................................................................................
Third Reading...............................................................................................
Royal Assent.................................................................................................
HONOURABLE SIOBHAN COADY Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board
Ordered to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Revenue Administration Act to introduce a tax on sugar sweetened beverages effective September 1, 2022.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE REVENUE ADMINISTRATION ACT NO. 3

Analysis

1. S.2 Amdt.
Definitions

2. S.5 Amdt.
Collection of tax

3. S.9 Amdt.
Books and records

4. Part IX.2 Added

PART IX.2
SUGAR SWEETENED BEVERAGE TAX

106.12 Tax on sugar sweet-

ened beverages
106.13 When tax payable
106.14 Levying the tax
106.15 Refund of tax
106.16 Registration

5. S.112.2 Added
Regulations re: sugar sweetened beverage tax

6. Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

SNL2009 cR-15.01
as amended

1. (1) Section 2 of the Revenue Administration Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (l) the following:

(l.1) "concentrated drink mixture" means a product that is primarily intended by the manufacturer to be mixed with water or other non-sugar ingredients to produce a beverage for human consumption and includes

(i) frozen concentrated juices,

(ii) flavoured powders, and

(iii) syrups;

(2) Paragraph 2(m) of the Act is amended by deleting the word "and" at the end of subparagraph (ii), deleting the semi-colon at the end of subparagraph (iii) and substituting a comma and the word "and" and by adding immediately after subparagraph (iii) the following:

(iv) for the purpose of Part IX.2, means a person who

(A) in the province, purchases or receives delivery of a sugar sweetened beverage, or

(B) brings into the province a sugar sweetened beverage acquired outside the province,

for that person's own use or consumption or for the use or consumption by others at that person's expense, or on behalf of, or as the agent for, a principal who wishes to acquire the sugar sweetened beverage for use or consumption by the principal or other person at the principal's expense;

(3) Section 2 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (q) the following:

(q.1) "dispensed beverage" means a beverage for human consumption that is dispensed into an open container from a dispensing machine;

(4) Section 2 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (hhh) the following:

(hhh.1) "ready-to-drink beverage" means a beverage for human consumption that is intended to be consumed as prepared by the manufacturer;

(5) Paragraph 2(kkk) of the Act is amended by adding immediately after subparagraph (i.1) the following:

(i.2) a sugar sweetened beverage not for resale but as a consumer,

(6) Paragraph 2(mmm) of the Act is amended by deleting the semi-colon and the word "or" at the end of subparagraph (i.1) and substituting a comma and adding immediately after that subparagraph the following:

(i.2) sells sugar sweetened beverages at a retail sale and who is either an HST registrant who has an establishment in the province, or who is designated as a retailer by the minister, or

(7) Paragraph 2(nnn) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(nnn) "sale" means a sale for cash or on credit or a sale where the price is payable by instalments, and includes a barter, an exchange and a contract by which at a price or for other consideration a person gives gasoline, a carbon product, tobacco, a vapour product, a sugar sweetened beverage, a vehicle or tangible personal property to another;

(8) Section 2 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (nnn.1) the following:

(nnn.2) "sugar" has the same meaning as sugars-based ingredient in subsection B.01.001(1) of the Food and Drug Regulations under the Food and Drugs Act (Canada);

(nnn.3) "sugar sweetened beverage" means

(i) a ready-to-drink beverage to which sugar has been added by the manufacturer,

(ii) a concentrated drink mixture to which sugar has been added by the manufacturer, or

(iii) a dispensed beverage that has been prepared according to the manufacturer's directions from a concentrated drink mixture to which sugar has been added by the manufacturer;

(9) Paragraph 2(yyy) of the Act is amended by deleting the word "and" at the end of subparagraph (ii), deleting the period at the end of subparagraph (iii) and substituting a comma and the word "and" and by adding immediately after subparagraph (iii) the following:

(iv) for the purpose of Part IX.2, means a person who sells sugar sweetened beverages in the province for the purpose of resale.

2. Subsection 5(1) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Collection of tax

5. (1) The minister may designate a person as an agent of the minister for the collection of the tax imposed under Parts III, III.1, VIII, IX, IX.1 and IX.2 of this Act.

3. Section 9 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after subsection (3.2) the following:

(3.3) In addition to the requirements imposed under subsection (1), a wholesaler shall, at the time of making a sale of a sugar sweetened beverage, issue an invoice containing the information that the minister may require.

4. The Act is amended by adding immediately after Part IX.1 the following:

PART IX.2
SUGAR SWEETENED BEVERAGE TAX

Tax on sugar sweetened beverages

106.12 (1) A person who acquires a sugar sweetened beverage at a retail sale in the province shall, in respect of the consumption or use of the sugar sweetened beverage, pay to the Crown at the time of the sale a tax at the following rates:

(a) $0.20 per litre for ready-to-drink beverages or dispensed beverages; and

(b) for concentrated drink mixtures,

(i) $0.20 per litre for every litre of beverage that can be produced in accordance with the manufacturer's directions, or

(ii) where the manufacturer does not provide sufficient directions for the purposes of subparagraph (i),

(A) $0.80 per litre for frozen concentrated juices,

(B) $2.00 per kilogram for flavoured powders, and

(2) A person who, as a consumer, brings a sugar sweetened beverage into the province or receives delivery of a sugar sweetened beverage in the province shall immediately report and pay to the Crown the tax that would have been payable had the sugar sweetened beverage been acquired at a retail sale in the province.

(3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may exempt the following from tax imposed under this Part:

(a) sugar sweetened beverages prescribed in the regulations;

(b) sugar sweetened beverages packaged in containers holding a quantity not exceeding the quantity prescribed in the regulations;

(d) a quantity of sugar sweetened beverages brought into the province where the total quantity does not exceed the quantity prescribed in the regulations.

When tax payable

106.13 (1) Where a retail purchaser acquires a sugar sweetened beverage from a wholesaler or a retailer, the retail purchaser shall pay the tax to the wholesaler or retailer at the time the sugar sweetened beverage is purchased.

(2) Where a sugar sweetened beverage is sold on credit at a retail sale, the retail purchaser is assessable for the full amount of the tax as imposed by this Act and the tax shall be imposed when the retail sale is made.

Levying the tax

106.14 (1) At the time of a sale of a sugar sweetened beverage to a retail purchaser the person making the sale shall levy and collect the tax imposed by this Act and shall, in accordance with the regulations, pay over the tax so collected to the collector from whom the sugar sweetened beverage was acquired.

(2) Where money by way of tax is collected on a sugar sweetened beverage sold to a retail purchaser that was acquired by the retailer otherwise than from a collector, that money shall be paid over to the minister by the retailer at the time and in the manner prescribed by the regulations.

Refund of tax

106.15 (1) Where tax has been paid in respect of the consumption or use of a sugar sweetened beverage purchased at a retail sale and the sugar sweetened beverage is returned to the retailer or wholesaler, the retail purchaser shall receive a refund of the tax paid on the sugar sweetened beverage where the retail purchaser receives a refund of the amount paid for the sugar sweetened beverage.

(2) Where a retailer returns a sugar sweetened beverage to a collector and is entitled to a refund, the retailer shall receive a refund of the full amount paid to the collector in respect of the sugar sweetened beverage that is returned.

(3) The collector, when reporting the total amount of the tax collected by him or her, may deduct from the tax to be remitted to the minister the amount of tax he or she has refunded in respect of returned sugar sweetened beverages.

Registration

106.16 (1) The following are considered to be agents of the Crown and as agents shall collect the tax imposed under this Part:

(a) a wholesaler; and

(b) a retailer who sells sugar sweetened beverages that were acquired otherwise than from a collector.

(2) A wholesaler and a retailer referred to in subsection (1) shall register as a collector in the form and manner set by the minister.

5. The Act is amended by adding immediately after section 112.1 the following:

Regulations re: sugar sweetened beverage tax

112.2 The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) prescribing sugar sweetened beverages for the purpose of paragraph 106.12(3)(a);

(b) prescribing a quantity for the purpose of paragraph 106.12(3)(b);

(d) prescribing a quantity for the purpose of paragraph 106.12(3)(d);

(e) respecting the payment of tax to a collector under subsection 106.14(1); and

(f) prescribing the time and manner in which a tax imposed on a sugar sweetened beverage shall be paid or remitted to the minister under subsection 106.14(2).

Commencement

6. This Act comes into force on September 1, 2022.