Ontario's budget a measure of hope for small business

Canadian Federation of Independent Business says today's budget is a “measure of hope” for small business, but more
remains to be done.

Full details contained in the news release below.

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Toronto, – The Ontario budget announced today responded in part to recommendations made by small businesses, but there is still room for improvement, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says.

“We were looking for a confidence-building budget and there was some of that here today,” CFIB Ontario Director Satinder Chera explained. “It’s a balanced budget with no tax hikes, no wild spending and no deficit. The big wins for independent businesses are the acceleration of the
business education property tax cut in Northern Ontario, capital tax rebates for manufacturers and firm commitments on regulatory reform.”

“It is important to put these measures in the context of the costly new Family Day holiday and next week’s minimum wage increase,” Chera added. “For that reason, we were hoping for corporate income tax relief to keep Ontario competitive now and for the future.”

Important measures for small business include:

• Accelerating the Business Education Tax (BET) reduction plan in Northern Ontario, from seven to three years – affecting 30,000 firms in 85 municipalities. CFIB will continue to push the government to honour its commitment to consider accelerating these cuts in the rest of the province in future budgets.

• Ontario’s goal to lead all Canadian jurisdictions with its efforts to measure and reduce the regulatory burden; Ontario will start with a cap-and-trade initiative (eliminating one regulation for every new one);

• Rebating the capital tax on manufacturing, retroactive to January 1, 2007;

• Simplifying tax administration rules leading to an expected overall reduction in tax legislation of up to 25 per cent;

• Investments in skills training, including more apprenticeship spots. CFIB will keep working towards reductions in journeyperson to apprentice ratios that currently prevent small businesses from hiring apprentices.

“While there are a number of positive measures in this budget, much remains to be done to keep Ontario competitive – particularly on corporate income taxation. Ontario’s next-door neighbour – Manitoba – has already committed to reducing its small business corporate rate to
zero in the months ahead,” Chera concluded.

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