TORONTO, March 19, 2013 /CNW/ - Senior representatives of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) will be available for commentary immediately following Thursday's federal budget (contact details below). CFIB president Dan Kelly, national affairs vice president Corinne Pohlmann, and vice-president for Quebec Martine Hébert will all be available on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
On behalf of over 109,000 small- and medium-sized businesses across the country, CFIB has made several recommendations for this year's budget, including:
- Enhancing, and indexing the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) to inflation;
- Extending the Employment Insurance hiring credit for small businesses and expanding it to include businesses with up to $15,000 in EI premiums;
- Lowering the small business corporate tax rate;
- Blocking any plan to raise Canada Pension Plan (CPP) premiums;
- Making further reforms to unaffordable and financially unsustainable public sector pensions; and
- Staying focused on eliminating the deficit by 2015/2016 or earlier.
The need for governments to balance their books was made even clearer this week thanks to a new CFIB report titled Canada's Fiscal Fitness. The report measures spending, revenues, and debt as a percentage of GDP for the federal government and all ten provinces, and illustrates the negative impact that would result if governments were to miss their spending targets.
"At a time when the economic recovery is still quite fragile, it's important that governments focus on balancing their budgets and not hitting entrepreneurs with payroll tax hikes," said Kelly. "Entrepreneurs can't afford to pay more. Renewing the EI Hiring credit and rejecting any proposal to hike CPP premiums are important measures for small firms."
On budget day, please call Gisele Lumsden to arrange an interview with a CFIB spokesperson at 647 808-5769 (cell) or via email at [email protected]
To arrange an interview with Martine Hébert please contact Caroline Emmanuel at 514 861-3234 or 514 919-9535 (cell).
CFIB spokespeople will be in the media lock-up and, immediately following the budget announcement, in Ottawa, Toronto and offices across the country. Contact [email protected] to arrange an interview.
To read Canada's Fiscal Fitness, please visit www.cfib.ca
To view CFIB's budget recommendations for 2013, Growing SMEs = Growing Economy, please visit http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/cfib-documents/5551.pdf
As Canada's largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses, CFIB is Powered by Entrepreneurs™. Established in 1971, CFIB takes direction from more than 109,000 members in every sector nationwide, giving independent business a strong and influential voice at all levels of government and helping to grow the economy.
SOURCE: CANADIAN FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS
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