There are eleven days to go before General Sales Tax implementation day. On July 1st the GST will replace the sales tax and it will be charged a uniform 10% across the board on all telephone bills, some lights bills and even your grocery bill. It is a reality that has retailers trying to sell off stock and shoppers looking for mini-windfalls in these slender pockets of tax transition opportunities. Keith Swift has the story.

Keith Swift Reporting
The GST: it is the General Sales Tax but in the world of retail, it has taken on new meaning. At Mikado GST is "grab and save today" while at three retailers: Romac's, Cellular Plus, and CD Plus the message to customers was simpler: buy now or else.

Nina Mahitani, Romac's Store
"We are doing 20% on all our merchandise. Everything that's in the store is 20% off until the end of the month."

Keith Swift,
Why buy now?

Nina Mahitani,
"Well because now you can get it cheaper, you get 20% off. After July 1st you're going to get 10% more. Buy now, save today. Some people are doing all their birthday shopping and Christmas shopping from this month to save today."

Kevin Mendez, Cellular Plus
"Right now we are offering 10% to 20% off all phones because of GST which in you know when GST comes in there will be dramatically higher. So right now we are advising people to come in now because after the date when GST is due, everything will be sky high. So this is the best time to come into Cellular Plus and purchase your phone."

Naim El-Amin, CD Plus
"We are having deals on everything. All the movies, all the video games, all the video games accessories, computer software, everything in the store."

Keith Swift,
Why are you advising people to buy now?

Naim El-Amin,
"Well because we are kind of uncertain of what all will rise with GST so right now are just try to give people an opportunity to save on a lot of stuff they normally buy. I don't really feel the consumers really know how GST will affect them as yet."

Keith Swift,
Prepare your customers for July 1st. What's going to happen when they come in on July 1st? Will all the prices be up 10%?

Nina Mahitani,
"Well yes practically that's it. Clearer than that you can't go. 10% more as of July 1st."

The Sales Tax Department says don't expect prices to dramatically increase on July 1st. They say that is just hype. Sales Tax Commissioner Beverly Castillo says that prices should gradually increase.

Beverly Castillo, Sales Tax Commissioner
"Keith prices will only increase if there is no credit given for stock or if there are stocks on the shelves that already have Sales Tax and then GST will be applied first of July. So if it is the GST causing any increase, that should not happen before first of July."

Keith Swift,
On July 1st should we expect that everything in the stores will be 10% higher?

Beverly Castillo,
"Not necessarily. It depends on what the supplier wants to do. He might want to reduce his margin. I think last week you asked me the question on the sales and why we have so many pre-GST sales. It simply means that the businessman is lowering his markup or his profit, he's reducing his profit to get rid of his stock so he is not losing technically so then I don't see why GST will cause any price increases. It doesn't necessarily have to mean that everything will go up."

Some consumers have told 7NEWS that prices at their neighborhood grocer and retail stores like Publics are already rising. Publics today denied that. They told us off camera that the prices that have increased reflect increases from wholesalers. Sales Tax Commissioner Beverly Castillo says there's not much you the consumer can do to prevent price gouging.

Keith Swift,
What do I do if my neighborhood grocer is already increasing prices on me and is blaming it on GST?

Beverly Castillo,
"As I said before, GST will help you as a consumer to make choices. If you don't want to pay the high prices, you go where the prices at a lower rate."

Where and when to buy. Questions facing consumer in the pre-GST era.

The Ministry of Finance today announced that as of now all imports arriving in the country will not attract the sales tax so as to avoid double taxation come July 1st.