SASKATOON — The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Saskatchewan government to reverse the July 1 small business tax hike.
“The provincial government decided to get greedy instead of continuing to give small business owners a break,” said Gage Haubrich, prairie director of the CTF.
“These extra taxes are a drop in the bucket for the government, but the extra cost could break a small business.”
In 2020, the government of Saskatchewan lowered the small business tax rate from two to zero per cent. On Canada Day, it was hiked back to one per cent. Next year, the government plans to raise the tax to two per cent, according to the CTF.
Over the last three years, the average small business saved about $6,100 due to the tax cut.
Last year, the government took in over $1.9 billion in business taxes. Fully taxing small businesses again would only increase that windfall by a mere nine per cent.
Small businesses employ almost 150,000 Saskatchewanians. As a result of this tax hike, over 31,000 small businesses in the province will see their taxes go up.
Unlike other provinces, the Saskatchewan government failed to provide any tax relief in its latest budget, CTF points out.
“Other provinces are cutting taxes and that helps businesses cut down costs,” Haubrich said. “Saskatchewan is going in the wrong direction by raising this tax, it needs to get rid of it for good.”
