Budget Brings Small Wins, but Not Enough for New Brunswick Business Community
FREDERICTON – Some members of New Brunswick’s business community say the 2017-2018 provincial budget had some small wins, but not enough.
On Tuesday the provincial government revealed its budget for the next fiscal year. One of the highlights was the expected decrease in the small business tax from 3.5 per cent to three per cent.
But that was about it for business.
Louis-Philippe Gauthier, Director of Provincial Affairs for New Brunswick for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says though he’s glad to see there were no new taxes imposed on business, the budget was a disappointment.
“[We’re] disappointed that the provincial government hasn’t moved beyond its current policy of just focusing on one tax relief measure,” Gauthier said.
“Our pre-budget survey clearly identified that it’s not enough when you consider all the plethora of additional taxes and costs that have been imposed on small businesses over the last two years and what’s coming over the foreseeable horizon. It’s no wonder that 79 per cent of our members said that reducing the total tax burden was the most important thing government could do.”
Gauthier cites increased HST, property and gas taxes and increased minimum wage as some examples of how small businesses in the province are squeezed.
“Faced with all those costs, it’s disappointing to see the government is continuing its strategy of only reducing one tax while multiple other taxes and costs to businesses have gone up and will continue to go up.”
He said the small business tax reduction will only help a portion of CFIB members, those who are incorporated and making a profit.
“If you considered the amount of businesses who are not incorporated, but are operating as a business, then you see that it’s a tax reduction that only applies to a very niche tranche of businesses,” he says.
Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce CEO Carol O’Reilly said the budget included some wins, such as increased spending in education, tourism and the creation of the population growth secretariat. However, she says those are overshadowed by the province’s growing debt issue. This year the province’s net debt is expected to increase from just under $14 billion to $14.4 billion.
“Some positive things came out of it for sure. However, we are going to have to face at some point that we have this huge deficit,” said O’Reilly.
Fredericton Chamber of Commerce CEO Krista Ross also said the province’s debt was a big concern. She also said the decrease in the small business tax won’t have a huge impact.
“There are so many ways in which businesses are taxed that lowering one small portion of it certainly isn’t enough to make a difference,” Ross said. “We believe businesses are experiencing tax fatigue and one of the things we’ve talked to the government about … is that we have to start looking at the tax structure as a whole. We have to look at the overall tax burden that businesses experience and really look at the tax structure as an extension of the economic development policy.”
Though there’s plenty more that businesses may have wanted from the budget, Ross says there’s a bigger issue that needs to be addressed first.
“I think before we can start making a wish list of what business would like to see, our province has to deal with our debt,” she said. “I think as business people, we could not accumulate that type of debt and operate our businesses effectively and efficiently. As a province, we have to look at that as well.”