The Federal Government recently released the CEBA program. While a welcome relief to hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country, it unfairly excludes many thousands of other equally deserving businesses. Several years ago, our accountant offered us the choice of being paid by salary, dividends, or contract payments.
The tax consequences of these three choices were virtually identical. We chose salary because we knew, from our years of working with small businesses to get them government grants, that ALL government grant programs refuse to subsidize dividends or contract payments to owners.
This is very specialized knowledge –there’s only a few hundred people in Canada that are aware the Federal government’s dislike of dividends and contract payments to owners is baked into every Federal incentive program.
Imagine my disappointment to discover this same Federal Government disdain for dividends and contract payments appears in the CEBA program! Those small business owners being paid through dividends or contract payments are paying the same taxes as those being paid salaries.
Excluding them from the CEBA program highlights the Federal Government’s longstanding prejudice against COMPLETELY LEGAL compensation methods. Don’t be silent about this!
This link will give you the contact information for your Member of Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search
Send your MP the following email:
Dear (MP NAME):
I am outraged that the Federal Government has chosen to exclude thousands of small businesses from the CEBA program simply because they have chosen to pay themselves through the COMPLETELY LEGAL methods of dividends or contract payments. These excluded businesses pay taxes, provide employment, and support our local, provincial, and national economy.
Now is the time for you to prove that you support small businesses in your district. Stand up and DEMAND that the CEBA program be extended to provide support for all small businesses!
Sincerely,
(YOUR NAME HERE)
