CANADA – The nation’s small businesses are the key to the country’s economic prosperity and it is crucial that we provide them with every opportunity to succeed. That was the central message delivered by Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) president Dan Kelly in a presentation to the Standing Committee on Finance this morning.
“Getting our economy back on track starts with small business,” said Kelly. “When small business owners reinvest in their companies, they’re reinvesting in Canada. We need to ensure that they have the capital they need to keep innovating, to keep investing, and to keep creating jobs. Unfortunately, government has made it harder for small businesses to make these investments by cancelling the Liberal Party election promise to reduce small business taxes by over $2 billion over the next five years.”
Kelly urged the committee to implement the following measures to help small businesses:
- Oppose any mandatory increases to Canada Pension Plan
- Reinstate the government’s promised Employment Insurance holiday for hiring youth between ages 18 and 24
- Reduce the small business tax rate to the promised nine per cent and ensure all small businesses have access
- Fix unfair rules removing access to the small business corporate tax for small campgrounds and self-storage facilities
- Ease the restrictions around passing a business on to a family member