Opinion: As Liberals pile on the taxes, small businesses can't catch a break

financialpost.com:

By Brianna Solberg

“It’s a tough time to be a small business owner” may be the understatement of the year just ending. Speak to any business owner in your community and they will tell you that over the past 12 months, nearly every line item in their budget has gone up: food, fuel, rent, insurance, utilities, not to mention the challenges created by labour shortages, supply chain issues and lingering pandemic debt.

To make matters even worse, only about half of small businesses are back to pre-pandemic sales levels. Many owners say customers have been slow to return and are spending less on average when they do. Data from the latest Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) monthly business barometer indicates both that insufficient domestic demand is limiting business’ ability to grow and that business owners are not optimistic things will get better anytime soon.

The new year will bring new challenges as Ottawa piles on four major tax hikes.

As of Jan. 1, changes to both the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI) premiums will increase payroll taxes by up to $348 for workers and $366 per employee for employers. As a result of these increases, an employer paying the maximum CPP/EI contributions will pay up to $5,524 per employee. To say nothing of the other payroll taxes, such as workers’ compensation premiums, that business owners must pay, or the payroll levies for education or health care that they face in several provinces.

Then on April 1, the carbon tax rises from $65 per tonne to $80, while the alcohol excise tax is automatically adjusted for inflation. Assuming Ottawa doesn’t legislate a freeze or cap, the increase will be about 3.5 per cent.

A higher federal carbon tax will be hard