Tax cuts signalled for small businesses in Ontario, with minimum wage rising

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The Wynne government is showing all the signs it will announce tax breaks for small business Tuesday, as companies in Ontario bracefor a sharp rise inthe minimum wage expected in January.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa is promising that his fall economic statement, to be deliveredin the legislature shortly after 3 p.m., will contain unspecified "help" targeted atthe 400,000 small businessesin this province.

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But even if you don't own or work for a small business, the statement will be worth watching, Typically a mid-year update to the budget, this edition will give youa taste of how Kathleen Wynne and her Ontario Liberalsplan to frame their re-election campaign, with voting day set for June 7.

"I will be announcing a whole set of new comprehensive initiatives to help small businesses in Ontario reduce costs and become even more competitive, to help them improve their bottom line," Sousa said in a speech last week to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

This could mean anything from trimming how much small businesses pay in employer health tax to a lowercorporate tax rate on small-business profits.

CBCNews revealed first in July that business groups have been pushing for tax cuts to offsetthe extra wage costs of the looming minimum wagehike.

Bill 148, expected to passin the coming days, contains a range of labour reforms anda timetable toboost Ontario's minimum wagefrom the current $11.60 per hour to $14 effective Jan.1, then to $15 per hour in January 2019.

"The cost of doing business in Ontario is going up in 2018," said Plamen Petkov, Ontario vice-president for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). "The drastic increase in the minimum wage and the labour reforms that are coming up are going to have a very significant impact on those businesses that currently are struggling."

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Both the CFIBand the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, which represents 60,000 businesses and industry groups, are looking to the economic statement for relief on both payroll and corporate taxes.

"A number of these measureswe believe have to be combined," said Karl Baldauf, the chamber's vice-president in charge of government relations. "It's only by leveraging a full suite of options will you be able to make businesses more competitive."

Sousa denies that any tax cuts to be announced Tuesdaywill amount to a trade-off against the higher minimum wage.

"We're actually trying to respond to what's going on south of the border," said a senior government official speaking on condition of anonymity."It's about making sure that our businesses are competitive enough to go up against American firms at a timewhen there's a changing regulatory environment in the U.S."

Congress is poised to vote asearly as this week on a plan initiated by President Donald Trump that would slash the top corporate tax rate to 20 per cent from its current level of 35 per cent.

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"Ontario's corporate tax rate is competitive with theUnited States right now," said Baldauf. "But any effort by the United States to lower their corporate tax rate will make it more and more of a challenge for Ontario to hang our hat on that as a competitive advantage."

With an election campaign just six months away, the Ontario Liberals will absolutely wantto avoid antagonizing small business. You can be certain they won't follow in the footsteps of their federal cousins, in which proposed tax changes that would have hit incorporated professionals and small family-owned companies blew up in the face of federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

Whatever tax breaks Sousa offersto small business Tuesday, expect his speech to be peppered with references to "fairness and opportunity" for all Ontarians.This is the kind ofmessaging the Liberals intend to usein the campaign to try to persuade voters to give them a fifth straight term.