REDUCING SMALL BUSINESS TAX
Date: Wednesday May 6, 2009

Stephen McNeil
Liberal Leader
(Ambassatours Headquarters)

I believe in investing in the people who invest in Nova Scotia. I believe in the people who run the businesses that keep our communities alive. More than half in the jobs in Nova Scotia are created by small business.

In these economic times, we hear a lot about big mega projects or stimulus projects to jump start the economy. And that is where the federal government is concentrating its efforts - and of course, it is our job to help leverage that money.

But we should not do that without supporting the backbone and the heart of our economy - the small business owners.

A small business tax cut from 5 to 1percent will create jobs and it will allow businesses to invest in these uncertain times.

A tax cut will be of immediate benefit. It makes sense now and it will help make us more competitive when the downturn in the economy is over.

That’s a constructive solution that will make a real difference.

It will make a difference whether that business exists in Halifax or Annapolis or Sydney or Ecum Secum. It will make a difference whether it is a business which employs a hundred people or three.

As you know, I ran a small business - It can be very rewarding and it can be really challenging. A tax cut can make all the difference – today, tomorrow and five years from now. It can give a company those extra resources to take that next step, hire some extra help or make that small expansion.

A Liberal Government would immediately enact this tax cut to the first 400-thousand dollars of earnings.

This tax cut would apply to any company that is Canadian owned and not publicly traded.

We are here today at Ambassatours because companies such as this one would benefit.

But then again so would your local convenience store. Or your friend down the street who runs a cottage industry.

This tax cut can and will make a difference.