There are a number of them, Mr. Speaker. I'll try to be as concise as I can. One of the options on the table, if we're able to do away with the BIP and save some money in administration, one of the things that I approached the Finance Minister with was the potential of taking our small business tax rate from four percent to two percent; really a 50 percent reduction. The small business rate applies to income; a net income geared up to $300,000. So anything above the $300,000 mark has the corporate business tax rate applied...We know we just talked about reducing that from 14 to 11.5. So I've approached the Finance Minister. We've discussed a number of options that we're able to save money on BIP administration. This was but one of the options that we discussed. I would say, though, that I doubt he's going to be amenable to the tax break without a reduction of administration. We've got to pay for it somehow, Mr. Speaker. So obviously I'm not in a position to be able to decide what tax rates are applied. That's the Finance Minister's decision and the Cabinet's decision. But I do know that the premise was that if we could save administrative money, we could plough it back into the competitiveness of our small businesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Brendan Bell on Question 424-15(4): Incentives For Northern Businesses
In the Legislative Assembly on February 20th, 2006. See this statement in context.
Further Return To Question 424-15(4): Incentives For Northern Businesses
Question 424-15(4): Incentives For Northern Businesses
Item 6: Oral Questions
February 19th, 2006
Page 1128
See context to find out what was said next.