Stopping the Tax Grab of the Century

Potentially the Income Tax Grab of the Century

Our current Minster of Finance along with the Liberal Government have proposed changes to the Canadian Income Tax Act that are going to significantly raise taxes for middle class Canadians and local businesses. The proposed measures will have a negative impact on entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and general small business owners.

For more information on the proposed changes, please see our August 15, 2017 post.

We strongly suggest that you contact your member of parliament and give them your feedback with respect to the above changes. Now is the time to for action.

Contacting Your Local MP

1. Copy the letter below into an email, or draft an email that addresses your concerns.
2. Find your MP’s contact info by visiting this link and entering your postal code.
   You may also choose to include our Prime Minister (Justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca) and the Minister of Finance (bill.morneau@parl.gc.ca) as recipients.
3. Update the letter with your MP’s name and email address.
4. Send the email to your MP.
5. Pass this information along to anyone you know who will be affected by these changes.

**** begin sample letter **************************************************************

Dear {insert your MP}:

I have been educating myself about the new tax legislation proposed by the Federal Government on July 18th, 2017, and I am deeply concerned. The proposals are essentially punitive to small businesses – the lifeblood of the Canadian economy. I don’t believe that tax-grabs from Canadian families of up to 93% are fair.

These proposals will compel many small business owners to close or relocate their operations from Canada. They will kill jobs in our community. I’m worried that the loss of Canada’s brightest talent, including doctors, engineers, and tech entrepreneurs, will cause lasting harm to our economy.

• Are small businesses valuable to the Canadian economy?
• Does starting a business entail considerable risks and costs?
• Why should businesses take those risks?
• Do tax policies change behavior? And tax policies of alternative countries?
• In a punitive business environment, where will productive employment come from?
• With the prospect of 60%-110% tax rates, why would a business choose to grow in Canada?

The seriousness of these proposals will weigh in on my vote in 2019. I implore you to represent these concerns for the sake of our country. Each day that passes under the threat of these proposals wreaks more damage to businesses.

These articles (and many others) raise valid concerns from experts and those affected:

• Watch Out For The Bigger Picture (Tax Templates Inc.)
• Private corporation tax proposals unquestionably harm “middle-class” business owners (Moodys Gartner)
• Trudeau’s Proposed Tax Changes Devastating for Small Businesses: A letter to the Department of Finance (Yale & Partners)
• Federal plan to crack down on tax advantages a ‘terrible decision’: Conservative MP Lisa Raitt (BNN)
• Proposed Tax Regime changes (Swain & Associates)
• Canada’s Health-Care System Has An Expiration Date (Huffington Post)
• Meaningful questions that must be answered before tax reform for private corporations is implemented (Connors Stilwell)
• Morneau’s tax changes won’t just hurt the ‘rich,’ they will hurt growth (Financial Post)
• Canada’s tax proposals read like a class-warfare manifesto against private businesses (Financial Post)
• Is a 93% Tax Rate Fair to Canadian Small Business Owners? (Minden Gross LLP)
• How the federal tax-reform proposals miss their target (Globe and Mail)
• A 93% tax rate? Private corporation tax could make it possible (Financial Post)
• The demonization of small business and their advisors (Moodys Gartner)
• See Beyond the 1% (Tax Templates Inc.)
• The Family Business: RIP (John Lawson)
• The day the Liberals Crushed the Entrepreneurial Spirit (KLM Financial)
• The “Sexist” Fair Tax (Bonnie Swift)
• Small business gets scapegoated in the finance minister’s unfair tax attack (Financial Post)
• Reaction of Robert Raich to proposed federal tax changes announced on July 18, 2017 (Spiegel Sohmer)
• Liberals proving they’re more focused on taxing wealth than creating it (Financial Post)
• Your Neighbourhood Small Business Owner Isn’t A ‘Fat-Cat Tax Cheat (Huffington Post)
• Proposed tax reforms don’t crack down on the wealthy; they threaten small business (Ottawa Citizen)
• Bill Morneau needs to start taking tax fairness seriously (Macleans)
• Ottawa’s tax proposals are hypocritical and inequitable (National Post)
• Should doctors demand salaries, benefits? (Toronto Sun)
• How Not to Reform Taxation (Tax Templates Inc.)
• Federal proposals will chase entrepreneurs away (Tax Templates Inc.)
• Are SR&ED tax changes another punch in the teeth for Canada’s tech sector (IT World Canada)
• Proposed tax changes will hurt small businesses (London Chamber of Commerce)
• Ottawa entrepreneurs will suffer under proposed tax changes, tech advocacy group says (Ottawa Technology Journal)
• Look At The Numbers: There’s No Justifying A Tax Hike On Employers (Huffington Post)
• Petition – Extend consultation for proposed changes to private corporation taxation (Video Tax News)
• Trudeau’s tax proposals will bring much of Canada to a screeching halt (The Surburban)
• Canadian Doctors Like Me Are Starting To Look For The Exit (Adam Stewart, MD, CCFP)
• Red paper proposed tax changes on private companies (Spacek, Armstrong, and Norrad Chartered Professional Accountants)
• Incorporation changes will hurt MDs — and you (Times Colonist)
• Morneau’s tax changes will hurt those Liberals claim to help (Toronto Sun)
• Liberal Government Tax Proposals – Tax planning using private corporations (Horizon CPAs)
• Industry groups come out strongly against Ottawa’s proposed tax changes (Investment Executive)
• Small business owners say they are unfairly targeted by proposed tax changes (CBC)
• Surprise! Doctors don’t like being branded tax cheats (National Post)
• Canadian doctors will be hurt by proposed tax change (Vancouver Sun)
• Open Letter to All Canadian Politicians (Rohit Kumar)
• Concerns over proposed tax changes (The Daily Courier)
• Morneau’s tax-loophole speech masks reality (Times Colonist)
• What Canada’s new tax-planning proposals mean for private businesses (Globe and Mail)
• Morneau turns to class warfare to justify a massive attack on high earners (Financial Post)
• CMA head criticizes federal corporate tax plan, says it will harm patient care (Globe and Mail)
• Beware the unintended consequences of Ottawa’s private corporation tax changes (Financial Post)
• The Liberals will only weaken the middle class if they proceed with proposed tax changes (Globe and Mail)
• Tax changes will encourage doctors to leave (The Star)
• The Integrity Of The Consultation Period For The Private Corporation Tax Proposals (Moody’s Gartner)
• Canada’s tax system is needlessly complicated (Edmonton Sun)
• Morneau’s tax changes provoke a firestorm (Toronto Sun)
• Could Canada’s proposed changes punish small business? (The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce)
• Tax changes would hurt profitable businesses, opponents warn Ottawa (The Globe and Mail)
• Federal Tax Changes Show a Profound Misunderstanding of Independent Business (Jordimorgan)
• Small businesses and farms need to stand up to the Liberals lousy new tax plans (Calgary Sun)
• After the fall harvest, Canadian farmers could face huge tax hit from new rules (National Post)
• The Liberal tax plan is hardly about fairness (Ottawa Citizen)
• Tax Proposals Target Canadian Business Owners (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP)
• Tax Planning Using Private Corporations – Changes on the Horizon – Part 2 (Manning Elliott)
• Let me tell you a story about a man named Jed, the tax man, and the discriminatory impact of the proposed new tax rules for private companies (Cummings Cooper Schusheim Berliner LLP)
• A tale of two sisters, a tax horror story (Cummings Cooper Schusheim Berliner LLP)
• A story about the birds and the beebes (Cummings Cooper Schusheim Berliner LLP)
• Government Proposing to Impose a 45% Flat Tax on Retirement Income (Cummings Cooper Schusheim Berliner LLP)
• “Red” Billy Morneau rings the death knell for the entrepreneurial spirit in the name of “fairness”! (Trevor Parry Consulting)
• Ottawa’s proposed tax changes ‘an attack on small business’ (Winnipeg Free Press)
• Doctors and other professionals push back against proposed tax reforms aimed at high earners (National Post)
• It’s time for a tax revolt in Canada (Toronto Sun)
• Federal tax changes could be ‘catastrophic’ for Nova Scotia doctors (Global News)
• Proposed Federal Tax Changes Punish People Who Take Risks and Create Jobs (Huddle)
• Small-business owners ‘feeling the brunt’ of policy changes (Globe and Mail)
• Small business owners betrayed by Trudeau (Toronto Sun)
• Private Company Income Splitting Proposals – Part 1: The History and a Technical Analysis (Kevin Nightingale)
• Private Company Income Splitting Proposals – Part 2: Can it be Practically Administered? (Kevin Nightingale)
• Proposed Tax Changes May Hit Your Family Farm Hard! (Kingston Ross Pasnak LLP)
• The Great Canadian Tax Grab (Collins Barrow)
• Growing Concerns with Proposed Amendments Affecting Private Businesses and their Shareholders (Bennett Jones)
• Collateral damage’: Ontario farmers worry about proposed tax reform (CBC)
• Muddled small business tax reform (Herald)
• Federal tax changes would hurt small business (Herald)
• Proposed tax changes could hit farmers hard (Alberta Farmer)
• How proposed tax changes target income sprinkling (Michelle Connolly)
• Letter Regarding Impact of Proposed Tax Changes on Patient Care in Canada (Dr. Ryan Sander, MD)
• I’m back in the 1950s’: Saint John dentist says proposed tax changes punish women (Kelly Keys Manning)
• My Letter to Mr. Morneau (Wayne Macleod)
• Tax Planning RIP (1917 – 2017) (Aaron Schechter)
• Liberals declare war on Canada’s Job-Creators, Families, and Local Investment (Eric Butz)
• Fair means equal for all Canadian taxpayers? Our Federal Government thinks so (Rachel Gervais)
• Coach, the Liberal Government doesn’t give a sh*t about you (Adam Scherer)
• Ottawa’s proposed tax changes ‘an attack on small business (Winnipeg Free Press)
• Do Small Businesses Pay Their ‘Fair Share’ of Tax? (William Kriski)
• Tax changes would cripple small businesses, rural economy (Herald)
• Standing up to liberal taxes on self-employed Canadians (The Stettler Independent)
• Will new tax proposals force your family to sell? (Michael Sadovnick)
• Screw It! Let’s Go Work for the Government (Michael Sadovnick)
• A business owner’s fair share (Hugh Neilson)
• Misguided tax policy (Joel Cohen)
• Open letter to PM Trudeau (Deepa Soni, MD)
• Conservatives prepare to ‘ramp up’ campaign against Morneau’s tax-reform plan (National Post)
• Senator Black Requests Hearings Over Concerns for Canadians on the Government’s Tax Reform (Senator Doug Black)
• Government’s tax reform AM770 (Senator Doug Black)
• Canadian business leaders meet to form conclusions on stance against proposed taxation changes for private corporations and shareholders (Newswire)
• Deputy Conservative leader visits Moncton, challenges ‘atrocious’ proposed federal tax changes (CBC)
• Conservative leader Andrew Scheer warns small business tax could kill jobs on trip to Alberta (Global News)
• Proposed Tax Changes Will Significantly Impact Family Businesses In Response to Department of Finance July 18th, 2017 Tax Reforms (Jason Sklinick)
• Business groups unite, call on Ottawa to drop federal tax changes for small business (CFIB)
• Warkentin condemns tax hikes (Fairview Post)