SMEs could help ‘fix’ low job growth across Canada, CFIB says
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Association calling for feds to cut tax rate on small businesses to nine per cent from current 11 per cent
TORONTO—Lowering the tax rate levied on small businesses Canada would help improve employment numbers across the country, according to a national association of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said dropping the small business tax rate from 11 per cent to nine per cent—starting with a 0.5 per cent decrease this year—would help get the federal government’s job numbers “back on track.”
In a recent pre-budget meeting with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the CFIB outlined its wish list of priorities, which includes a lowered tax rate, as well as the retention of the Hiring Credit for Small Business and public sector pension modifications.
“The latest job numbers show how fragile our economy continues to be,” CFIB president Dan Kelly said in a statement. “Small business can be a big part of the solution, but needs government to help create the right environment for growth.”
Introduced in 2011, the Hiring Credit for Small Business is a incentive that gives business owners a tax break equivalent to additional employment insurance that come with new hires.
The program also applies to businesses who boost their workers’ salaries.
The CFIB also asked for “more detail” on how the controversial Canada Job Grant will work, and warned that, while foreign workers have been “a lifesaver” to businesses who need the help, recent changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program “will likely make it more difficult to access.”
Flaherty is expected to deliver the Conservative government’s budget in March.
