Will the Conservatives repeal the iPod tax?

The House is currently debating the NDP’s motion on tariff increases in the 2013 federal budget. Mike Moffatt has a primer on the tariff code changes.

Last Wednesday night, I asked the finance department to explain the tariff exemption requirement for iPods. The next day, the finance department deferred to the Canada Border Services Agency. As of this writing, the CBSA has yet to provide a response.

Stephen Maher suggests the Harper government is looking to change the rules.

The rules, as they stand, mean that consumers would be hit with a tax of about $10 on a $300 iPod. But the government doesn’t want the story to end that way, so officials are likely looking for a way to secretly change the enforcement policy so that the tariff doesn’t apply to iPods.

See previously: A tax on imported blankets, The Commons: Ted Menzies challenges everyone to find a tax increase in the budget, A tax on bicycles, baby carriages and iPods, The Great iPod Tax Crisis of 2013 and The iPod tax: The finance department responds