by Peter W. Casurella
In the wake of the overwhelming roar of protest from small business owners from across the nation, Finance Minister Bill Morneau promised to listen to what Canadians were saying until the end of the consultation period on October 1st. It now appears that the Minister may have heard what Canadians are saying after all.
On Tuesday, in response to a barrage of pointed questions from a Senate Committee convened to review the proposed tax changes, Morneau admitted that "changes are going to be required", and indicated further that there will be changes to all three parts of the proposals which saw crackdowns on income sprinkling, passive investments, and succession planning for private corporations. Along with the general softening of the rhetoric coming out of the Finance office, the general impression is that the government is backing down from its initial hard-line stance in response to the advocacy efforts of groups like the Chamber of Commerce network and
alarming shifts for the Liberal party in public opinion polling.
One thing that Morneau was firm on, though, is that the consultation period is over. The next step is for the Minister and his team to draft new legislation that take into account the feedback they have received.
Our Chamber, along with the entire national network of Chambers represented by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Ottawa would rather see the government establish an independant royal commission to review the Canadian tax code with a view towards fairness and simplification for all taxpayers and increasing the competitiveness of all businesses.
We need your help.
Together we've achieved this victory because hundreds of thousands of people like you did a small action that only cost you a few minutes of your time. Take 5 minutes out of your day to do one of the actions below and let's continue the fight for tax fairness for small businesses and competitiveness in Canada.
