Laughing Stock Vineyards owner Cynthia Enns plans to pass on lower prices to customers after the new tax becomes law July 1.

“We are hoping other wineries will take note,” she told Business in Vancouver late Tuesday night. “Although we’ve decided not to lay down the gauntlet ourselves.”

Currently there is a 10% provincial tax on liquor plus a 5% federal GST. When those taxes are merged, there will be a 12% HST on wines. The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch has made clear it will adjust its mark-ups so consumers at government liquor stores see no difference in the post-tax price.

Enns, however, said that when consumers buy her wine through her website or her on-site wine shop, she will pass on the saving. That means her high-end $40 Portfolio wine will sell for $38.80.

Enns knows it is politically unpopular to be in favour of the HST. But, as a business woman, she recognizes its benefits.

“Totally, from a business point of view, we’re going to do well by it because of those input tax credits,” she said.

Those credits mean she will save the equivalent of the PST whenever she buys new equipment such as grape crushers or tractors.

She sells about $750,000 annually through her wine shop and website.

“We just had May long weekend. You wouldn’t know that the economy is on a downturn given how busy it was on the Naramata Bench.”

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