Again the Canadian federal government is looking to add to the tax burden of small business in this country. At some point one would hope common sense would prevail. With dividend income equalling regular income and most tax advantages to business owners evaporating, and combined with excessive utility bills, invasive regulations, and a potential carbon tax burden any business owner opening shop in this environment deserves a medal.
The thought that those without benefits should be subsidized by penalizing employers and their employees where they have opted to provide benefits is absurd. The first thing this will do is create less benefit plans in place for employers of small businesses. They employ a large percentage of private sector workers in Canada. With less benefit plans in place then even more people will be paying for their health care costs with after tax out of pocket dollars. This would amplify, not correct the issue.
Having healthy business opportunities and tax advantaged business structures helps to build an economy. Over taxing and regulating destroys it. Where is the government going to find the revenue for their social programs going forward if business starts and overall revenues decline. There will be more unemployment leading to more economic burden with less revenue sources to pay for it. It’s a very negative cycle.
It’s admirable to want to help those without a benefit program and/or with lower incomes and no protection. If they really want to help, provide more tax credits for under-covered and lower income families and more programs to provide assistance. Don’t tax those already doing the right thing. If the government really wants to help, develop a cost structure for buying drugs as a national strategy, something that will help both those insured and not insured. Canada has amongst the highest cost per prescription in the free world and is one of the few nations without an effective national drug buying strategy.
It’s time our government was part of the solution not the problem. Isn’t that what they were elected to do?
Why free-marketers should support a new tax on health and dental plans — on one condition
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