Tories trash Liberal small business tax plan at Thornhill town hall meeting

Pierre Poilievre, Peter Kent bash government proposals, constituents agree

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 13, 2017
By Tim Kelly

Conservative MPs Pierre Poilievre and Peter Kent held a town hall Wednesday in Thornhill to explain why they believe the Liberal plan to tax small businesses is not fair.

Unsurprisingly, there was no support for the Liberal plan, which Poilievre called "unfair. They want to impose a double tax on small businesses (passive income) that could reach as high as 73 per cent. That tax would not apply to large, publicly traded companies," said Poilievre, who said the government was attempting to raise up to $3 billion with the new taxes to "fund out-of-control spending."

The town hall was attended by about 20 local business owners who listened intently as the Official Opposition's shadow finance minister and Carleton MP went through his version of the elements of Finance Minister Bill Morneau's proposals, introduced in July.

Poilievre argued that currently, business owners can save money in accounts and only have the income taxed once when it is withdrawn. But he said under the new proposal, the income will be taxed when it is put into the account and again when it's withdrawn, thus double-taxed, going from a rate of about 55 per cent to a rate of nearly 73 per cent.

He also said, instead of being able to sell a business or property at the current lower capital gains rate, the owner will now have to sell it at the much higher dividend rate if selling to a family member.

Finally, he said "income sprinkling," which allows business owners to pay salaries to family members at much lower tax rates, will be eliminated as part of the new proposals.

"There is a whole bunch of new double-standards they (Liberals) are creating that punish small businesses and farmers in ways that no one else has to suffer," Poilievre said.

Ron Feldman, who attended the event, said he believes "the government has become very intrusive in business affairs."

"They're effectively nationalizing profits and margins so whatever comes out of it, they want a bigger share. They're going to disincentivize entrepreneurship and this is just another way that they are taking away choice," Feldman added.