Quebec small business owners speak their minds!
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À la croisée des chemins (French only)
Les priorités et demandes des PME aux partis politiques
The latest survey of Quebec's small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) reveals some troubling news:
- 95% of small business owners in Quebec are concerned about the ability of governments to balance public finances and 96% are worried about the debt burden
- Over 90% of them deem public sector costs (paid for through taxes on the general public) to be too high and 93% feel that the middle class in Quebec is too heavily taxed
Solutions proposed to bring public finances in line:
- Top priority: Reducing compensation (salary and benefits) of civil servants (54% of respondents)
- Second and third place: Impose user fees to finance health care costs (51% of respondents) and abolish school boards and transfer savings directly to schools (48% of respondents)
Solutions for stimulating the economy:
- Reducing red tape (58% of respondents), creating a special fund from natural resource revenues to pay off the debt (49%), and decreasing the Quebec Sales Tax (42%) are the three main priorities cited.
Solutions for supporting the SME Sector:
- Taxes on small- and medium-sized businesses and overall payroll taxes in Quebec are the highest in Canada and weigh heavily on small business owners who are also reeling under the burden of unwieldy government rules and regulations
To ensure a more prosperous economic climate, political parties must take into account the needs of SMEs in their electoral platforms! Things have got to change!
