DCHP-2

provincial sales tax PST, P.S.T. DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• n. — Administration, Finance

  a value-added tax levied by various provinces.

  Type: 1. Origin — Provincial sales tax is levied by a number of Canadian provinces. Some, like Alberta and the Territories, do not levy a PST. Others, like Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have combined the PST with the federal GST (Goods and Services Tax) to create a Harmonized Sales Tax or HST. Although provincial sales taxes were levied as early as the 1930s in Alberta - which later dropped the tax - it appears the abbreviation PST was not used until the 1970s. PST originated and remains most prevalent in Canada (see Chart 1).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "PST" (1), which is marked "Cdn".

  See also: GST  harmonized sales tax  HST  PST