B.C. NDP needs to show us its plan
Editor:
I am compelled to quote Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, who spoke to the Province newspaper following B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix’s recent speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade.
When asked to comment on Dix’s speech, Hochstein said: “I understand how he is going to regulate it and increase the regulatory burden. I understand he’s going to tax it to increase corporate taxes. But, how is he gong to grow the economy?”
This is a critical question we should all be asking ourselves. If we believe small business is the engine of the economy, how can a government so clearly against small business be good for the economy?
The NDP’s attack on small business started two years ago with its politicization of the HST and its poor implementation. This tax — although not good for those who do not contribute to the economy, yet resented paying a little extra for that dinner out — was critical in making B.C.’s small-manufacturing businesses competitive with those in other provinces and to help pay for health care and education services.
With Dix’s recent confirmation that he will raise business taxes and levy banks with an increased tax if elected, his attack on small business intensifies.
Small businesses need three things to survive — competitiveness, capital and profit.
The elimination of the HST took care of the first requirement and the increased corporate and bank taxes will take care of the other two. If small business cannot make a profit or access cheap capital, it will go away.
Small-business owners are resilient and I am sure that, if the NDP was able to sit us down and explain there was a plan in place that would offset the damage being proposed and the economy would grow because of X,Y or Z, we would listen.
Unfortunately we have not heard it yet.
The NDP needs to show us the argument and give us a reason to stick around should it be elected because I love B.C. and would hate to have to leave.
Tom Caine
Kamloops
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