Small business confidence in BC, including the north, continues to dip as we head into summertime according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The provincial index came in at over 53 points in May but has now fallen nearly seven points back of the Canadian Average of 60.
Analyst, Muriel Protzer told Vista Radio while most small business owners are concerned with the Employer’s Health Tax set to take effect June 15th, entrepreneurs in Prince George are concerned about a different issue.
“In Prince George, we have survey data from our members saying specifically that property taxes are the most burdensome thing when it comes to municipal concerns, we’re seeing that 62% of our members rated it as the most concerning municipal costs.”
Protzer points out if the threshold on the EHT was bumped up, it would make life a lot easier for business owners.
“Increasing the exemption threshold for small business from $500,000 to $1.2 million dollars would actually make a huge difference and exempt most small businesses in British Columbia.”
“We’ve already heard from business owners this will have negative consequences on their hiring intentions and if we look at our hiring expectation stat, it’s much lower this May compared to last so already we are seeing entrepreneurs are expecting that they won’t be able to hire that extra person.”
Here is a breakdown of the provincial confidence:
- PEI 66.8
- Quebec 64.7
- Nova Scotia 64.4
- Ontario 61.7
- New Brunswick 54.7
- British Columbia 53.1
- Manitoba 52.3
- Alberta 51.8
- Newfoundland and Labrador 49.4
- Saskatchewan 49.1