FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 21, 2019
SURREY, B.C.– According to the Surrey Board of Trade, local businesses and tax practitioners are frustrated by the need to commit significant time, often at considerable expense, to deal with taxation and filing issues.
Canadian businesses spend 131 hours on average to prepare and pay their taxes. That is more than three weeks wasted productivity, when other countries do it in half the time.
“In Surrey, where the most number of manufacturing businesses are in B.C., a thriving health & technology industry in addition to a diverse industry sector – the red tape of taxation, the cost to navigate through a burdensome tax system are making us uncompetitive, locally and globally,” said Anita Huberman, CEO Surrey Board of Trade.
The Surrey Board of Trade joins hundreds of other chambers of commerce and boards of trade from across the country in calling for a comprehensive review of the Canadian tax system.
“50 years of cutting and pasting has left Canada’s tax system uncompetitive, cumbersome, and inefficient. By any measure, Canada’s tax system is a failure to Canadians and the businesses that employ them, deterring investment and the attraction of top talent. Our message to politicians is clear: we need a Royal Commission on tax, with everything on the table, to help ensure Canadian companies can grow and compete,” said Huberman.
“Our outdated tax system has real costs and implications for local firms. We cannot afford to keep kicking the can down the road with half measures that further complicate the system. We need a new system, built from the ground up, for the realities of today and the economy of tomorrow,” added Huberman.
Canadian business is in strong agreement that the federal government should undertake a whole-of-system review, guided by the principles of tax competitiveness, simplicity, fairness, and neutrality. The inquiry should explore the most impactful tax policy solutions, such as adjusting the tax mix to better promote investment and growth, legislating a Taxpayer Charter of Rights, and providing a representative for small business to resolve conflicts with the Canada Revenue Agency.
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For more information:
Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade
604-340-3899
