Starting this month, it’s costing more for alarm customers in the Canadian province of Manitoba to have their alarm systems monitored. A 7-percent provincial sales tax (PST) is now being assessed on the monitoring of commercial and residential security systems in the province that includes the city of Winnipeg.
In a double-shot to Winnipeg alarm owners, a verified response policy has been in place in the city since late April.
The tax was placed in the province’s budget, passed in April, and went into effect July 1. Rial Black, general manager of Winnipeg’s Protelec Alarms, told the Winnipeg Sun that even though he has sent letters to his customers explaining that they are being charged the PST, he still gets as many as 20 calls a day from customers asking about the tax. “It can only hurt in the long run,” Black said.
