YOUR PROVINCIAL ELECTION CHEATSHEET

With the provincial elections being only a week away, and advance voting already started, this election is already more controversial than normal. More people are being careful with who they are voting for.

Being a small business owner, my main focus is the business platform for each party. Where will I
benefit more short term and long term? Will I need to lower my prices so people can still afford their
expenses, or will I need to raise my prices so I can still afford my expenses?

Here’s a cheat sheet that narrows down each parties’ Work and Tax platform:

Liberal Party of Ontario

• Ditched the provincial surtax (a tax levied on income taxes that kicks in for those earning higher incomes) and readjusted Ontario’s tax brackets
• Tax rates for approximately 8.6 million people would stay roughly the same, but 1.8 million would pay an average of $200 more while close to 700,000 would see an average tax cut of $130
• No change to corporate taxes
• Expand access to private sector employer-based pension plans
• Another tax hike on cigarettes in 2019 of $4 a carton, following two years of increases

Source: 2018 Ontario Budget, Liberal Party

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

• Ford, who has pledged to scrap the Liberals’ planned minimum wage hike from $14 to $15 next year, would introduce an income tax credit for workers earning the minimum wage so that anyone making less than $28,000 a year would pay no income tax.
• Cut corporate tax rates from 11.5 to 10.5 percent in an effort to attract new businesses to Ontario
• Use a tax rebate program to cover up to $6,750 for childcare costs—lower-income families would receive 75 percent of child-care costs back
• Mused he could abolish the 15 percent non-resident buyer tax on real estate introduced last year
• Cut middle-class income taxes by 20 percent for those earning $42,960 to $85,923 annually, but Ford unclear how it will be paid for
• Cut gasoline taxes by 10 cents a litre by ending the 4.3 cent a litre carbon tax along with a 5.7-cent reduction in the province’s fuel tax
• Cut the small business tax rate from 3.5 percent to 3.2 percent

Sources: Global News, Ontario PC, Globe And Mail, Toronto Star, Maclean’s, CBC News

Ontario New Democratic Party

• Increase the corporate tax rate from 11.5 percent to 13 percent, while keeping the Liberals’ earlier reduction to small business corporate tax rates
• Raise income tax rates by one percentage point for those earning more than $220,000 and two percentage points on incomes greater than $300,000
• Enacting a three percent surcharge on luxury cars priced above $90,000
• Implementing a speculation tax targeting Canadian and foreign home buyers similar to the model enacted by B.C. NDP government
• Expand pension coverage by reducing potential barriers to join public jointly-sponsored pension plans, expand pension benefits guarantee fund to $3,000 per month

Sources: NDP Platform

Green Party of Ontario

The Greens are pledging to raise large corporation taxes by 1.5 percent, implement a one percent increase to the top one percent of earners, lower payroll taxes for businesses and non-profits earning under $5 million, raise resource royalty rates for companies making money from mining, reduce property speculation by taxing vacant properties, add a surtax on quick turnaround real estate sales and expand the Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Sources: Ontario Green Party platform, Green Party of Ontario