Business crowd cheers as Scheer slams tax plan
To the applause of Regina’s business community and the Saskatchewan government, federal Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer continued to denounce the Liberal government’s tax plan on Tuesday.
Speaking at a Regina & District Chamber of Commerce lunch, Scheer told the crowd his party would fight the Liberal’s proposed tax changes “every step of the way.”
Those changes, according to the Liberals, would only affect wealthy Canadians using corporations to avoid paying their fair share of income tax. But Scheer said what the Liberals are proposing will not close any loopholes, and is an attack on small businesses.
“These are measures that have
come into force over the course of decades as part of how the tax system is set up, for individuals, for small businesses, for large businesses,” he said, adding they allow people to “avoid things like double taxation” and businesses to “save and invest.”
Small business owners who choose to incorporate — like doctors — currently benefit from a special, lower tax rate than those making the same amount of money doing the same job who are not incorporated. The Liberals are proposing to change this, although there are several caveats.
Right now, those who have incorporated can avoid tax by forwarding capital gains to family members in lower tax brackets.
A proposed change would restrict income-splitting among family members via a corporation, and increase the onus on the company to prove those family members are doing work for the business.
“The backlash has been unbelievable and many, many groups are only now realizing just how devastating it will be for their sectors,” said Scheer.
It was clear from the fanfare Scheer got that his message was well received by the chamber of commerce crowd.
He is also in line with the position of the provincial government. A longtime opponent of the federal government’s carbon tax, Premier Brad Wall characterized the Liberals’ tax changes as a “job-killing tax hike.”
“As anyone that has ever had to make payroll will tell you, starting up and running a small business or farm is risky, requires long hours, and is not for the faint of heart,” said Wall in a social media post. “These women and men are our job creators and the backbone of the Canadian economy ... but the federal government wants to punish them in the name of ‘fairness?’”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the changes will not affect those making $150,000 a year or less, and that people are still able to max out RRSPs and tax free savings accounts (to the tune of more than $70,000).
“As soon as you start talking about the small percentage of people who have or who can max out both their RRSPs and their taxfree savings account, you’re talking about the wealthiest Canadians,” he told reporters last week.
Not all in Saskatchewan are supporting Scheer in his opposition to the proposed changes.
Regina-Lewvan NDP MP Erin Weir said in a statement the Conservative leader “needs to explain why he believes an incorporated doctor making $250,000 after expenses deserves to pay less tax than an unincorporated doctor earning that same salary.”
The federal government is indicating it intends to go forward with the tax changes after a 75-day consultation period that began on July 18.