Regina, March 23, 2022 - The 2022-23 Saskatchewan budget provides little relief for small businesses hoping to see measures to reduce costs and help with recovery, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). Small businesses are still feeling the burden of cost increases associated with supply chain issues, inflation, rising property taxes, payroll taxes, and the carbon tax.
“CFIB recognizes the province has managed the pandemic well by allowing businesses to stay open as much as possible, but small businesses are still very much in recovery mode,” said Kathleen Cook, CFIB provincial affairs director. “After dealing with two years of the pandemic, only 34 per cent of Saskatchewan small businesses are at normal sales levels and the average small business has accumulated $95,188 in COVID-19 related debt.”
Further CFIB survey results show the top issues currently impacting Saskatchewan small businesses:
- Rising prices (fuel, food, insurance, etc.) (100%)*
- Supply chain challenges (increased time and effort to access products) (91%)*
- Government increasing costs (CPP premiums, taxes, minimum wage) (80%)*
- Labour shortages (66%)*
*Percentages represent the number of Saskatchewan small businesses that feel this is impacting their operations.
“If the provincial government wants to ensure small businesses can continue to contribute to economic recovery, they need to recognize the fragile state of small businesses," said Brianna Solberg, CFIB senior policy analyst. "We would have liked to see additional cost relief measures introduced in the budget, such as holding the small business tax rate at zero per cent for the foreseeable future and freezing education property tax mill rates. These actions would go a long way to help small businesses,” concluded Solberg.
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Kathleen Cook
CFIB provincial affairs director
431-388-2395
kathleen.cook@cfib.ca
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 95,000 members (4,300 in SK) across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.
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