OTTAWA–Uber Canada is asking the federal government for “meaningful consultation” on a decision to require the company to charge sales taxes on users’ trips.

Uber Canada said Thursday the Liberal’s decision to apply taxi industry GST/HST rules to the “ride sharing” company constitutes a “tax on innovation,” hurting people who use the service to make money.

Susie Heath, a spokesperson for the international company, said Uber is not sure where the burden of GST costs will ultimately fall, but that it’s “clear” it will increase costs for users.

“We have not yet fully assessed pricing considerations around this proposed tax but it’s clear that it will increase the cost of ridesharing,” Heath wrote in an email to the Star.

“This tax deters consumers from making the switch from driving their personal car to sharing rides because it’s increasing the cost on new alternatives like Uber.”

The Liberals’ 2017 budget, released Wednesday, made explicit that “commercial ride sharing services” like Uber to register for GST/HST and charge the tax on their fares.

It’s not a new “Uber tax,” but extending the rule that taxi companies have long worked under to the so-called ride sharing service.

It’s also not a new issue for Uber. In 2015, the company said it was up to individual drivers to register for the sales taxes, and obliged to personally pay them to the federal government.

“Eighty per cent of fares collected for Uber trips go to local and independent driver partners who must file their HST obligations,” Heath told the Star in July 2015.

“As a registered Canadian business, Uber Canada pays all applicable taxes, and we regularly communicate to driver partners on how to file their HST as applicable.”

The federal government has long been preoccupied with how to bring so-called sharing economy companies — of which Uber is the poster child — under federal regulations.

Documents obtained by the Star last year showed a committee of senior bureaucrats found significant challenges to bringing the sharing economy under government rules.

Conservative Finance Critic Gérard Deltell told the Star Thursday that the party was “open to debate” tax and regulations for the sharing economy, which has partly displaced traditional industries like taxis, hotels, and restaurants.

Acknowledging the measure isn’t a “new” tax, Deltell nevertheless said governments have to be cautious when taxing a new industry or company.

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“We’re not closed to debate about that, but we must analyze (sharing economy companies) as a global issue,” Deltell said Thursday.

“We have to address this as a global issue, not just a specific one or a Canadian one. And more than that, we must have a debate on that.”

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