Business people will be talking about the federal government’s plans to tweak its tax laws, this Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Abbotsford Conservative MP Ed Fast will be at the Chances gaming centre boardroom talking about the Liberal government’s proposal to tighten tax loopholes on small businesses. Time for the meeting is 10:30 a.m. to noon. The meeting is by invitation.
“If these tax proposals will affect you and your business, MP Fast would like to hear your concerns and suggestions,” said Mike Murray, Fast’s executive assistant.
Murray, who ran against local Liberal MP Dan Ruimy in the 2015 election, said the implication of the changes are that business owners are tax cheats.
“I get a sense that the government will have to backtrack somewhat on this.”
The changes proposed include restrictions on how a small business divvies up profits among family members in order to lower the business taxes that are payable. Another proposal is to remove some of the tax refunds possible for business investment.
The Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge Liberal MP was surprised to hear about the meeting. He had his own business roundtable on the topic on Sept. 13.
“He’s coming to my riding to do a roundtable? Nice to know. That’s a little unusual. If he wants to come to my riding and do that … what can I say?” Ruimy said.
“That’s not how I would behave.”
Ruimy said it was a political move and said he should have been invited and now he’ll be blamed if he doesn’t show up.
He added that the consultation period ended Oct. 2 and the government should bring its response to the feedback this fall.
The federal government also is proposing to add a new rule to prevent tax planning that gets around rules meant to prevent the conversion of company profits into tax-exempt, or lower-taxed capital gains.
The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Chamber of Commerce is opposed to the tax changes.