Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 13/01) - The Northwest Territories is not keeping up with the times when it comes to taxes, says a national business lobby group.
Representatives of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business are in Yellowknife this week to tell the territorial government that its five per cent corporate tax rate is unnecessarily high.
"At one point, the Northwest Territories' government was competitive," says Corinne Pohlmann, a policy analyst with the federation.
NWT's five per cent used to stack up well against Alberta's six per cent rate and Ontario's eight. But over the past couple years the Alberta rate has been knocked down to three per cent, and four per cent in Ontario.
Even B.C., with a reputation for high taxes, beats NWT with a 4.5 per cent rate, Pohlmann said.
About 60 per cent of CFIB's 200 Northern members are Yellowknife companies.
Private meetings between the organization and government officials, including cabinet ministers, were scheduled to wrap up June 13.
The five per cent rate is based on a company's taxable income, and applies if that income is under $200,000 a year. Foreign-controlled small companies and all large companies pay 14 per cent.
John Monroe, head of tax policy for the GNWT, says "There's a trend, at least on the business side, of lowering taxes."
He says the territorial government is considering the idea, but it's too late for this year because the budget was passed in February.
In addition to tax matters, the CFIB also wants input into a review under way of laws governing the Workers' Compensation Board, although according to Pohlmann, "it's fairly well run" compared with southern boards. "We're trying to make sure it stays that way," she said.
The federation also hopes to discuss the shortage of qualified labour and government regulation and paper burden.
