Quebec’s small and medium businesses are asking Finance Minister Carlos Leitão to ease their tax burden in the next budget.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), which represents these businesses, says their tax burden is already among the heaviest in the nation.
CFIB senior vice-president Martine Hébert noted that Quebec finished 2017 with an economy that was doing well. She said Quebec must take advantage of this momentum to revisit its taxation of small and medium businesses.
At a time when the United States has lowered corporate taxes by 14 per cent and NAFTA is under threat, Hébert says, it is necessary to create conditions that favour small and medium business growth.
She notes that Quebec announced an income tax cut for the middle class before Christmas. In the new year, she says, it’s time for “the middle class of businesses, that is to say small and medium businesses, to benefit.”
The CFIB maintains that the tax rate for these businesses in Quebec remains the least competitive in Canada. Hébert specifies that with its eight per cent tax rate on profits — save for in the manufacturing and primary sectors — Quebec is far from the Canadian average of 2.7 per cent.