Advocacy efforts have been ramped up around the province and around the country as Chambers of Commerce work to gather their members’ feedback on what some have called the biggest change to small business tax in over 50 years.
The Federal Government’s proposed tax changes, currently being discussed in Ottawa, could see major changes for small businesses across the country and the Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce is taking action.
The local chamber developed a “Postcard Campaign” to send to businesses to encourage a quick and direct response to the issues of the proposed tax changes.
During the recent BC Chamber Executives Conference held Sept. 10-12 in Invermere, the postcard campaign was shared with delegates and was picked up quickly to encourage a province-wide initiative.
“In addition to the letter campaign encouraged by our Canadian Chamber, we felt this tool could better gain the involvement of our members and show Ottawa that business in BC is very concerned,” said David Sawatzky, president, Mission Chamber.
“Not every member has the time to sit down and write out a letter, we are making it easier for them to be heard and sharing this tool with our colleagues across the province will help to increase the impact we have in Ottawa.”
Last week the chamber hosted a free seminar in Mission to discuss the tax changes and the postcard campaign.
Sawatzky said they hosted the seminar to help members understand what’s happening, because the change are “more complicated than anyone can imagine.”
“Running a small or medium size business is a really challenging thing to do. Any more layers of complexity into your business just does nothing but hurt your business,” he said.
Sawatzky added that after examining the proposed tax changes, he hasn’t seen one positive attribute to the legislation.
He’s hoping businesses will get on board with the campaign and send in a postcard containing their concerns,
“We want to see thousands of these end up on the MPs’ desks.”
A copy of the postcard can be picked up at the chamber office.
