The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on the Saskatchewan government to reverse the July 1 small business tax hike that took effect on July 1, and the CTF's central Canada director minced no words in a July 4 media release from the organization.
“The provincial government decided to get greedy instead of continuing to give small business owners a break,” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director with 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 cut the small business tax rate from two to zero per cent as part of COVID relief efforts. On Canada Day 2023, it was hiked back to one per cent. In 2023, the release points out, the government plans to raise the tax back to the full two per cent.
Over the last three years, the average small business saved about $6,100 due to the tax cut, the CTF said.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that advocates for lower taxes, less government waste, and greater fiscal accountability at all levels of government in Canada. The CTF was founded in 1990 and operates as a grassroots organization with a membership base across the country. They regularly challenge governmental tax decisions, conduct public educations campaigns aimed at creating grassroots support, and advocate for transparency in government finances.
The CTF claims that in 2022, business taxes set records, with the province collecting over $1.9 billion. They said in their release that resuming full taxation of small businesses would increase that windfall "by a mere nine per cent."
Small businesses employ almost 150,000 Saskatchewanians. As a result of the July 1 deadline on tax relief, over 31,000 small businesses in the province will see their taxes go up.
"Unlike many other provinces, the Saskatchewan government failed to provide any tax relief in its latest budget," the CTF said.
“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.”
