For once, it seems, all four federal parties can agree on something – it’s time to lower the small-business tax.
They even agree on how much, each candidate telling a gathering of real estate professionals on Thursday afternoon their platforms would cut the tax from 11 per cent to nine per cent.
Green Party MP Bruce Hyer, seeking re-election in Thunder Bay-Superior North, said his party plans to eventually take it even further.
We’re gradually going to reduce it to zero, he said during an hour-long question-and-answer session put on by the Thunder Bay Real Estate Board.
“If you leave it in your small business as retained earnings it helps to grow your business into a more profitable or medium- or large-sized business,” Hyer said.
“And if you take it out as personal income you’ll be taxed on it at that time.”
Conservative opponent Richard Harvey said his party would take it one step further and reduce payroll deductions by 20 per cent.
Lower taxes work, he added, drawing from his own experience as Nipigon’s mayor.
“When I became mayor of Nipigon nine years ago, we lost everything. Our entire industrial base went up in smoke,” he said, referencing a 2007 blaze that destroyed the multiply mill, putting 150 out of work in a town of 1,800.
“What did we do? We started spending money on infrastructure, we kept down the deficit. We carried no external debt and we lowered taxes. We went from nine years ago having the highest taxes in Northwestern Ontario to now I’m told that per capita, we have the lowest taxes.”
Liberal Patty Hajdu said her party has a number of solutions to help small business, from reducing employment insurance premiums to increasing the number of skilled workers through improved training.
The party has pledged $500 million toward that effort, she said.
“That’s a big part, because from what I’m hearing from small-business owners is there are two pieces. One is the cost of running a business, the red tape that needs to be eliminated or reduced – but also the ability to attract skilled workers,” she said.
The NDP’s Andrew Foulds said it’s apparent out on the campaign trail that small businesses are struggling at the day-to-day level. There are financial and emotional risks involved. Ultimately, he added, the No. 1 issue concerning voters is jobs.
In addition to cutting the small-business tax, the NDP is pledging to invest in infrastructure to create investor confidence, work toward Canadian content laws for large-scale government contracts and an innovation tax credit.
“That makes business incentivized to reinvest in their own technology to keep sustainable over a long period of time,” Foulds said.
Independent Robert Skaf, a small-business owner himself, said entrepreneurs are the unsung heroes of the Canadian economy, but there’s still lots to do to ensure they continue to succeed.
Cutting the red tape and unnecessary expenses would help.
“My whole platform is about innovation,” said Skaf, who advocates turning the government of Canada into a revenue-generating enterprise to create quality jobs.
