OTTAWA: The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has called on the Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) to support a range of tax reliefs for small businesses in its report on Budget 2016.
FINA is currently scrutinizing Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No.1, and held its first hearing on May 12.
In his evidence to the committee, CFIB President and CEO, Dan Kelly, said that the new Liberal Government had made it harder for small businesses to innovate and make investments because it had cancelled its election promise “to reduce small business taxes by over CAD2bn (USD1.6bn) over the next five years.”
Kelly urged FINA to reduce the small business tax rate to nine percent. The Liberal Party had pledged to lower the rate from 11 percent to nine percent, but the Budget deferred any such cuts.
Kelly also said that the committee should reinstate the Employment Insurance holiday for companies hiring employees aged between 18 and 24, and ease the restrictions on passing a business on to a family member. In addition, he would like the committee to oppose any mandatory increases to Canada Pension Plan contributions.
