Dear Member,

Are you a business owner?

If your business is incorporated, then you could be facing a larger tax bill and big compliance costs from the government’s new proposals to change the way corporations are taxed. 

Here are three things you need to know about the tax changes proposed by the federal government:

1. Do you employ family members? The government wants to scrutinize their compensation to apply a much higher tax rate on income they consider “unreasonable”.

2. Do you invest the profits from your business? The federal government is proposing to tax that income at an effective rate of 70%.

3. Do you want to pass your business on to your children? Tough new rules make it difficult for younger kids to get the capital gains exemption. They could be double-taxed. 

Please make time for this important consultation.  This is your opportunity to have a voice in changes to this tax legislation.

Looking forward to seeing you there at 5:30 pm on Thursday.

Yours Respectfully,

Pat Markovich

President, Brockville and Area Chamber of Commerce

Media Release: For immediate release

Gord Brown to host consultation on

finance proposals for small business

Brockville – Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds-Grenville – Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, today announced that he will host a meeting on Thursday, September 14 to hear from constituents about the small business tax changes proposed by the current government. It will take place at the 1000 Islands Mall Community Room from 5:30 pm to 7 pm.

Joining Brown will be The Honourable Pierre Poilievre, MP for Carlton and Opposition Finance Critic.

On July 18, the Minister of Finance announced his intention to eliminate certain tax measures that allow Canadians to avoid higher taxes.

The proposed measures include the ending the practice of business owners “sprinkling” their total income among family members in lower tax brackets who don’t directly work for the company, taxpayers using private corporations as a substitute for a regular savings account, and taxpayers converting a private corporation’s regular income into capital gains.

“Since these proposals were announced I have been receiving feedback from all across the riding,” explains Brown. “Many small business owners including family doctors and other professionals that we rely on every day have contacted me to express concerns about their ability to maintain their offices and businesses under the proposed rules.”

He notes that these business owners don’t have many of the tax benefits of other Canadians and these measures allow them to save for retirement, rainy days, and to have the capital to grow their businesses.

“I support policies that reduce the tax burden for small and medium sized businesses, reduce red tape, and allow entrepreneurs to create jobs,” comments Brown.

The current government’s tax hikes (higher small business tax rates, increased payroll taxes and a new carbon tax) are making it more difficult for entrepreneurs to maintain and grow their businesses, he notes.

As well, small businesses are being crushed by substantial increases in operating costs due to higher electricity and service rates. And soon, they will also face wage hikes.

The government has announced a 75-day consultation period on its proposals that ends October 2.

“The Official Opposition is participating in that consultation and I want to gather information from business owners in Leeds-Grenville,” Brown explains.

Participants at the consultation can attend for the entire evening or come and go as they please. Pre-registration is not required.

To review the tax proposals visit: http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/consult/tppc-pfsp-eng.asp

185,000 Ontario Jobs at Risk from Bill 148: Independent Economic Impact Analysis

Bill 148 will increase the cost of consumer goods and services by $1,300 per household starting in 2018, according to new analysis by leading economics firm

TORONTO, Monday, August 14 - Today the Keep Ontario Working Coalition (KOW), in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and the Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce released the first and only independent economic impact analysis of Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces Better Jobs Act. Conducted by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA), the study revealed that if the legislation is implemented as currently drafted, there will be significant, sudden and sizable uncertainty for Ontario jobs, economy and communities.

The study concludes that these vast, unprecedented reforms will put about 185,000 jobs at risk in the first two years, greatly impacting Ontario’s most vulnerable workers.

“The changes presented in Bill 148 will have dramatic unintended consequences that include putting close to two hundred thousand jobs at risk, and seeing everyday consumer goods and services increase by thousands of dollars for each family in Ontario,” said Karl Baldauf, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and spokesperson for the Keep Ontario Working Coalition. “We’ve run the numbers and it’s clear that this is too much, too soon. If the Ontario government chooses to proceed with these sweeping reforms too quickly, all of us will be affected, and the most vulnerable in our society chief among them.”

CANCEA was commissioned by the KOW coalition to measure the potential impacts of six key areas of change in Bill 148, including changes to minimum wages, “equal pay” provisions, vacation, scheduling, personal emergency leave (PEL) and unionization.

Data from the economic impact analysis shows:

·        $23 billion hit to business over the next two years alone

·        185,000 Ontario jobs will be at immediate risk over the next two years

o   30,000 of the jobs at risk are youth under 25

o   96,000 employees at risk are expected to be women

·        50 per cent increase to inflation for this year and the foreseeable future. The cost of everyday consumer goods and services will go up by $1,300 per household on average each and every year

·        The Ontario government would need to borrow $440 million more to cover the increases in new costs from this legislation. If the government were to provide offsets to businesses, as they have indicated, the province’s treasury will take a bigger hit

·        Municipalities will be forced to increase employee wages by $500 million without additional offsetting revenues 

“Simple accounting reveals that the Act creates a $23 billion challenge for Ontario businesses over two years. Annualized, this is 21 per cent of what Ontario businesses invest in capital,” Paul Smetanin, President, CANCEA. “Given the significant, sudden and sizable changes it would be remiss to expect that unintended consequences would not follow.”

In the coming weeks and months, the KOW coalition will release additional components to the economic impact analysis.

“Given the scale of impact and pace of change, it will be impossible for the provincial government to make businesses, even small businesses, whole through offsets,” added Baldauf. “With amendments to the first reading of Bill 148 due this Wednesday, the legislation will need to see serious change including an adjusted timeline for implementation.”

Since Bill 148 was introduced in June, the KOW coalition has called on the government to conduct an economic impact analysis to fully understand how the legislation will change Ontario’s economy.  With the government unwilling to do so, the report released today represents the first and only independent economic impact analysis of this legislation. 

For more details on the economic analysis, click visit keepontarioworking.ca

About the Keep Ontario Working Coalition:

The Keep Ontario Working Coalition (KOW) is a broad-spectrum group of business sector representatives concerned with sound public policy to help produce jobs and grow Ontario. For more information please visit www.keepontarioworking.ca.

Members include:

Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS)

Canadian Franchise Association (CFA)

Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers

Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC)

Food and Beverage Ontario (FBO)

National Association of Canada Consulting Businesses (NACCB Canada)

Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA)

Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC)

Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA)

Ontario Forest Industries Association (OFIA)

Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA)

Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA)

Restaurants Canada

Retail Council of Canada (RCC)

Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO)

About CANCEA:

CANCEA is a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research organization that is dedicated to objective, independent and evidence based analysis. They have a long history of providing holistic and collaborative understanding of the short- and long-term risks and returns behind policy decisions and prosperity. For more, go to cancea.ca.

For media inquiries please contact:

Jessica Georgakopoulos, Director of Communications, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, O: 647-243-3556 or C: 416-994-7901, jessicageorgakopoulos@occ.ca

Sydney Stonier, Communications coordinator, Ontario Chamber of Commerce

O: 647-243-3561, sydneystonier@occ.ca

Click here for CANCEA FULL ANALYSIS

NAFTA: Open Letter to Minister Freeland

On July 18, the OCC sent an open letter to Chrystia Freeland supporting the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s submission to the NAFTA Negotiating Team at Global Affairs Canada. While the renegotiation of NAFTA will be a complex undertaking, the OCC echoes the sentiment of the CCC that this negotiation should be regarded as an opportunity to bring the agreement into the 21st century so that it better reflects the way we do business today. See the open letter here.

Dear Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce Members

Thank you to the Businesses that came to the Breakfast on Thursday July 20/2017. As promised please see the attached below for  Karl Baldauf , Vice President, Policy & Government Relations from the  Ontario Chamber of Commerce presentation regarding the changes to the Ontario's Employment and Labour Laws - Bill 148

The proposed changes to Ontario's Employment and Labour Laws are:

•  Equal Pay for Equal Work Provisions
•  Minimum Wage Increases
•  Proposed Changes to Employment Standards
•  Changes to-scheduling, overtime pay, employee misclassification, joint liability, paid vacation, public holiday pay, paid emergency leave, family medical leave
•  Proposed changes to the Labour Relations Act
•  Enhancing Employment Standards Enforcement
• ​and More

​Karl Baldauf Presentation

Working Towards Mental Health: A toolkit for employers

The OCC released Working Toward Mental Health: A toolkit for employers on Tuesday, July 11. This document identifies the “mental health action gap” between what businesses believe and how they are taking action on mental health. It outlines the case for mental wellness in the workplace, and identifies strategies that any size of business can employ. The report can be found here, and a list of resources can be found at occ.ca/mentalhealth 

The Chamber Community Profile and Membership Directory contains a listing of all members businesses, Government indexes and other pertinent community information. Before we go to print with our new initiative we want to make sure that each member reviews there listing on the Chamber Website. If you need to make any changes please us this link to make the necessary changes   http://brockvillechamber.com/directory-listing-update.php

​Also we want to put your logo on the member profiles within our website.  Email your company logo to pjrobertson@brockvillechamber.com  

10th July 2017