MP Earl Dreeshen is waiting for proof that the federal government has backed down on parts of its controversial tax plan expected to have devastating effects on generational family farms.
Earlier this week Finance Minister Bill Morneau said changes will be made to the tax plan that was panned by many Canadians.
On Thursday the Red Deer-Mountain View MP asked government during question period for an explanation on behalf of farmers.
“(Farmers) continually risk all they have to preserve the family farm. Why are the Liberals willing to put our generational farms at risk for this cheap tax grab?” Dreeshen asked in the House of Commons.
Joel Lightbound, the Liberal’s parliamentary secretary of finance, told Dreeshen that the federal government will always stand behind its farmers.
“That is why we want to make sure they have an environment in which they can succeed and ensure that intergenerational transfers from parents to children, when it comes to farms, will not be impacted by the changes we’re putting forward,” Lightbound said.
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Dreeshen told the Advocate that people’s fears have not been alleviated.
“The average person caught up in all of this still doesn’t feel comfortable. They are just saying we’ve listened,” the MP said.
The three-part tax plan was to eliminate tax loopholes for wealthy small-business owners. It would impact intergenerational transfer of a business; prevent small-business owners from using their corporations for family members who are taxed at a lower rate; limit the use of private corporations to make passive investments in stocks or real estate; and limit a corporation’s ability to convert income into capital gains. Capital gains are typically taxed at a lower rate.
Dreeshen said the reality is most small-business owners, including farmers, don’t make much money.
“That’s where the fear and where the frustration and where the anger is because they’ve all been tainted with the same brush. To be demonized like that is frustrating.”
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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