Research from CFIB

[francisheng]

Hi fellow REIN members,

I like to do my bit in contributing to additional research. I currently work with a non-for-profit organization call Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which is a national lobbying group that lobbies the government on behalf of small and medium size independent business. There are a lot of research reports in regards to government polices that affect independent business and will be useful if you are running real estate investing as a business.

So from now on, I will be posting different research reports or any useful material so that it adds to your fundamentals research. If you are interested in any federal, provincial or municipal information, please feel free to message me and let me know and I will do my best to find it for you.

At times, I will also let you know what CFIB is lobbying for in particular cities and provinces. And just like Don said, you should be politically active to protect your business. And you can use the information that`s provided here and do your research to speak to any MPs.

Regards
Francis

 

[francisheng]

Here`s a first piece about Calgary Business Taxes.

For those of you who owns businesses or are paying business taxes in the City of Calgary, you might be interested in filling out an Action Alert (Click the link below) to have the government fix Calgary`s Business Taxes.

Action Alert to Fix Calgary`s Business Taxes

You can fill it in and send it to CFIB to use these Action Alerts to lobby the government and let them know that you do not support this particular tax.

 

[Thomas Beyer]

Some of my thoughts on TAXATION ISSUES that should be lobbied:

1 ) lower corporate income taxes !

2 ) lower personal income taxes ! consider INcreasing the GST to compensate !

3 ) shuffle more money to the cities from the Feds to the provinces to the cities ! People live in cities .. and that is NOT where they are taxed ! The infrastructure of cities are crumbling .. and people need more rental subsidies .. more day care spaces .. more affordable housing .. more public transit systems .. more $s !!!

4 ) Eliminate the subsidy of Quebec or PEI ! Every citizens should get the same $ from Ottawa .. regardless of where they live !

5 ) Make all provinces east of Quebec into one province .. less than three million people in 5+ provinces is a joke !

6) have a more effective and elected senate .. with true power like most sophisticated democracies: they have a true 2 chamber democratic system, i.e. a lower and an upper house .. one proportional to the # of people and one that represents the regions !

7 ) introduce private health care .. a true 2 tier system .. it would reduce demand from the public system .. and it would increase supply as more doctors would move here or serve: a true win/win for ALL people concerned !

 

[francisheng]

Business Barometer of Each Province

The CFIB Quarterly Business Barometer reflects how well business owners expect their own firms to perform over the next 12 months and how optimistic they are over the future. One of the indicators is in employment and this can be a good indicator to you if business owners are expecting to increase employment or decrease employment, which will in turn affect rental rates.

Here are the links to the latest quarterly business barometer reports for Canada & the major provinces:

Canada Business Barometer
Alberta Business Barometer
BC Business Barometer
Saskatchewan Business Barometer
Manitoba Business Barometer (2005)
Ontario Business Barometer
Quebec Business Barometer

 

[francisheng]

Here are 2 reports of property tax inequities in Alberta and British Columbia
Property Tax Inequities in Alberta

This is an important issue that faces both residential and especially commercial property owners about the huge property tax gap between residential and commercial tax rates.

The Growing Property Tax Gap in BC

 

[francisheng]

Here is an interesting report on The Future of Red Deer.
If you have properties in Red Deer, this will be a good read and good add to your research.

The Future of Red Deer

 

[francisheng]

CARBON TAX - YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS!

As all of you may know, the carbon tax is on its way to launch in BC by July 1st, which raises per litre of gasoline by 2.41 cents and eventually to 7 cents per litre over the next 4 years. CFIB is against the carbon tax.

While we are not against going green, there is no evidence business will go even "greener" by implementing the carbon tax. A lot of businesses are already doing their part to go green because of their personal beliefs in a greener environment.

Also, this tax is revenue neutral to the government but NOT to business owners.

According to our research, this tax can lead to other problems like an increase in property taxes, labour issues, businesses closing down, etc, all of which are problems that can have a negative impact on the economy and your investment properties.

While we cannot control the global economics, we can definitely have a say in our governments and steer them in the right direction to help us better by providing honest and accurate feedback.

So if you think that you will be affected by the carbon tax in a negative way, please put in your comments to me so that I can reflect it back to our team to bring your comments to the government.

 

[francisheng]

AN AUDIT ON THE CANADA REVENUE AGENCY - ITS ABOUT TIME!
Hi everyone,

CFIB release a very first Report Card on CRA.

If this is of interest to you, please visit http://www.cfib.ca/research/reports/rr3060.pdf and read the report and find out how you are affected as a business owner.

 

[GlennLasiuta]

QUOTE (francisheng @ May 10 2008, 09:51 PM) Here is an interesting report on The Future of Red Deer.
If you have properties in Red Deer, this will be a good read and good add to your research.

The Future of Red Deer

Hello. This is great stuff. Thank you for sharing!!

It is nice to have someone on the `inside` keeping tabs on what is going on!

Have a good one!!


Glenn

 

[gottatango]

QUOTE (francisheng @ May 10 2008, 09:17 PM) Hi fellow REIN members,

I like to do my bit in contributing to additional research. I currently work with a non-for-profit organization call Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which is a national lobbying group that lobbies the government on behalf of small and medium size independent business. There are a lot of research reports in regards to government polices that affect independent business and will be useful if you are running real estate investing as a business.

So from now on, I will be posting different research reports or any useful material so that it adds to your fundamentals research. If you are interested in any federal, provincial or municipal information, please feel free to message me and let me know and I will do my best to find it for you.

At times, I will also let you know what CFIB is lobbying for in particular cities and provinces. And just like Don said, you should be politically active to protect your business. And you can use the information that`s provided here and do your research to speak to any MPs.

Regards
Francis

Hi Francis,

We would like to say thank you for you supplying with such great information.

Sincerely,
Adrian

 

[francisheng]

Hi Glenn and Adrian,

It is my pleasure. From my point of view, the more people that knows, the better so that we can get more support from all of you and I ask that if you have suggestions, comments and even issues and concerns, please feel free to pass it on to me.

And I am glad that the informationis of use to you.

Regards
Francis