This week, the federal government announced a planned expansion of the Canada Pension Plan, describing the increase as modest, balanced and incremental.
But not everyone is happy with the announcement. The plan to has met with criticism from many in the business community.
“In an environment where many Canadian businesses are struggling to be more competitive, we find announcements regarding plans to expand the Canadian Pension Plan disappointing and worrisome and we know that there’s a big bill coming.”
The payout from the CPP will move from 25% of an individual’s earnings to 33% with the expansion. Ottawa has not yet disclosed how much the increase will cost.
Pohl says it will basically be a form of payroll tax that will hurt local businesses and that the government’s timing is off.
“Although there’s never a right time for a payroll tax, the timing is particularly bad. We encourage the government to make these kinds of costly changes for businesses at a time when the economy is strong and businesses are experiencing greater profitability.”
Despite Premier Christy Clark’s touting of BC’s strong economy and rosy economic outlook, Prince George Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Pohl says local businesses are still struggling.
“I think there is promising times ahead. There’s still a lot of uncertainty with the resource sector and we’re certainly more diverse than just the resource centre. WE see a lot of businesses still closing [and] waiting. It’s that waiting for until everything’s started in the resource sector. With the Canadian dollar down, that doesn’t help.”
Pohl says expanding CPP payouts will be a burden to businesses.
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