Liberal MPs still have time to keep the election promise they made to small businesses owners that would see a break on their taxes. In February 2015, the NDP proposed to reduce small business taxes from 11% to 9%. The Conservative government adopted the proposal in Budget 2015. The Liberal party platform promised to keep these measures in place but the current Budget Implementation Act, Bill C-15, cancels all future reductions.
Charlie Angus says we rarely get all three major political parties to agree. “That is exactly what we had during this election on lowering the small business tax rate to 9%. I am hoping this wasn’t a cynical ploy by the Liberal government and that they can fix this broken promise.”
A recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Office shows that this broken promise will cost small businesses $2.2 billion over the next four years. It will also cost the economy an additional $300 million and a loss of 1,240 jobs by 2020-2021.
“We may be heavily dependent on the resource sector in the north, but small businesses continue to be the backbone of our economy. We are hoping the Liberals will implement their promise and prevent small businesses from being forced to hand over billions of dollars.”