Small businesses pleased Sask Budget will be balanced by 2019 with sustainable spending and no tax hikes

Regina, April 10, 2018 –The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is pleased the 2018 Saskatchewan Budget will be balanced by 2019-20 by keeping spending to sustainable levels and not increasing taxes. 

“We knew this would be another tough budget, but Saskatchewan entrepreneurs will be relieved that the provincial government’s budget did not shock the economy,” said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, CFIB’s Vice-President, Prairie & Agri-business.

Sustainable Spending: “The government deserves credit for reducing overall government spending by 1.4 per cent in 2018,” added Braun-Pollon. “When surveyed on how the government should balance its budget, 76 per cent of Saskatchewan small business owners supported spending restraint (e.g. reducing the size of government through workforce attrition),” noted Braun-Pollon.

“We welcome the government’s plan to reduce the size of government, through finding efficiencies and workforce attrition, which will result in $70 million in savings over the next two years,” added Braun-Pollon. “We know that 93 per cent of CFIB members support reducing the size/cost of government in this way.”

Getting back to balance in 2019-20: A deficit of $365 million is projected for 2018-19. A return to balance is expected in 2019-20 with a modest projected surplus of $6.0 million. Higher surpluses of $108 million and $212 million respectively are forecast for 2020-21 and 2021-22.

No Tax increases: The Budget contains no increases to tax rates. All provincial tax rates, including provincial sales tax, income tax and property tax remain the same. The Budget also contains no carbon tax. However, the PST exemption for used light vehicles is being removed effective April 11, 2018, aligning Saskatchewan’s tax treatment with every other jurisdiction in Canada that has a sales tax. The trade-in allowance, to allow a deduction for the value of a trade-in when determining PST, is being reinstated.

Urging Saskatchewan not to follow the federal government’s lead in making changes to the taxation of passive investment income for private corporations: “In order to protect businesses’ hard-earned investments, we continue to urge the Saskatchewan government to stand up again for small businesses and NOT follow the federal government in limiting businesses’ access to the small business deduction based on passive investment revenue,” stated Braun-Pollon.

New business incentives: “We welcome the introduction of the Saskatchewan Value-Added Agriculture Incentive (SVAI), as well as the Saskatchewan Technology Start-up Incentive (STSI), which will further improve Saskatchewan’s business investment climate,” said Braun-Pollon.

Municipal Revenue Sharing: Budget 2018-19 provides $241.1 million for municipal revenue sharing to Saskatchewan municipalities. “We are pleased the Budget maintains the formula based on one point of the PST and represents an increase of $113.8 million, or 89.5 per cent from 2007-08,” noted Braun-Pollon.

“Overall, business owners will like the direction of this Budget,” concluded Braun-Pollon. “As the province’s finances improve in the coming years, the government will need to provide additional tax relief.”

To arrange an interview or for further information, please contact Marilyn Braun-Pollon at (306) 757-0000, 1 888 234-2232 or email mssask@cfib.ca. You may follow CFIB Saskatchewan on Twitter @cfibsk.

About CFIB
CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 110,000 members (5,250 in Saskatchewan) across every sector and region.