Published on: 22/10/2013

This afternoon, MPP Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North), the PC Critic for Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Reform, introduced the No New Tax for Businesses Act, 2013. The Private Member’s Bill seeks to keep skilled-trades employers exempt from paying the government’s trades tax (via the College of Trades) by eliminating sections 7 and 3.36 in the Ontario College of Trades and Apprenticeship Act, 2009. Removing these sections would ensure that employers would not have to become a member of the College or pay the trades tax beginning next year.

“We’re calling on the government to do the right thing and permanently exempt employers from paying millions in taxes to fund a bureaucracy that no one needs,â€Â￾ says Karen Renkema, Chair of the Stop The Trades Tax Campaign. “Ontario has struggled for years to attract people to skilled trades. A new government bureaucracy, combined with a new tax on tradespeople and businesses, will only hurt job creation and economic growth.â€Â￾

Currently, Ontario employers have a time limited exemption from paying the trades tax. The trades tax has already forced tradespeople to pay 600% more in annual fees than they did prior to 2012, and employers will be faced with a similar financial burden if hit with this new tax.

“Ontario’s skilled trades already adhere to well-established government building codes, engineering standards, public health, safety and environmental regulations. The College of Trades and its tax will only create more red tape and bureaucracy for small businesses and tradespeople,â€Â￾ says Frank Notte, Director of Government Relations, Trillium Automobile Dealers Association. “The Stop The Trades Tax campaign would like to thank MPP Garfield Dunlop for his continued support for tradespeople and efforts to stop the trades tax.â€Â￾

The Stop The Trades Tax campaign was launched in 2011 to stop the Ontario government from imposing a new, multi-million dollar trades tax on tradespeople and employers. The campaign has grown to 32 organizations, whose members represent over 130,000 skilled tradespeople and over 8,000 businesses across Ontario. The campaign has also launched a petition to Stop The Trades Tax, to date it has over 9,000 signatures.

To learn more about the Stop The Trades Tax campaign visit: www.stopthetradestax.ca If you have any questions about the Ontario College of Trades or the trades tax, please feel free to contact Patrick at OSWCA at 905-629-8819 or Patrick.mcmanus@oswca.org.

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