The 2026 provincial budget delivered major wins for small business owners, including an immediate small business tax cut from 2.5 % to 2.0%, with a commitment to reduce the rate to 1% in 2028.
“The move will mean immediate savings for the province’s small business owners,” said Jonathan Galgay, CFIB director of provincial affairs for Newfoundland and Labrador. “This year alone, businesses could save up to $2500 and once the 1% is in place in 2028, there could be up to $7500 in direct savings annually. It’s a significant amount of money.”
The tax cut comes in response to CFIB’s pre-election and pre-budget advocacy efforts calling on the new government to make small business tax reduction a priority. CFIB presented all party leaders with key small business asks during the election campaign, and met with Premier Wakeham, Finance Minister Pardy and a host of cabinet ministers and MHA in the leadup to the budget.
The government also made significant commitments to reduce the red tape burden on small business owners.
“Our members have been telling us throughout the province that red tape continues to be a major issue for them,” said Galgay. “When we held meetings with government we outlined a ‘turn-key’ package on how they could make red tape a priority. In the budget the government moved on our recommendation to create a red tape reduction office to oversee all policies, regulation and legislation in government to ensure its easier for businesses to navigate.”
CFIB expects that legislation to establish the red tape reduction office, as well as to establish regulatory counting and reporting, will be introduced in the fall.
“The government told us during the election campaign that they wanted to move from an ‘F’ to an ‘A’ in CFIB’s annual red tape report card. They have a lot of work ahead of them, but the conversations we’re having indicate that things are moving along,” said Galgay.
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