First

Session, 50th General Assembly

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

S.2 Amdt.

Definitions

S.5 Amdt.

Collection of tax

S.9 Amdt.

Books and records

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

S.112.2 Added

Regulations re: sugar sweetened beverage tax

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) 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

(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.

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

(C) $1.20

per litre for syrups.

(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;

(

c) sugar sweetened beverages used primarily for a

use prescribed in the regulations; and

(

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);

(

c) prescribing a use for the purpose of paragraph

106.12(3)(c);

(

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.

Queen's Printer