Fort McMurray Forum

Federal government cuts red tape with Fort McMurray business

The Federal Government relaying its efforts to reduce the burden placed on small businesses.

National Revenue Minister Gail Shea and Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP Brian Jean met with local entrepreneurs today, at a forum hosted in partnership with the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce.

Shea says the initiatives include expanding online interaction between the Canada Revenue Agency and entrepreneurs.

"So I'll be talking about some of those changes we made today, which allows Canadian business to interact easer with CRA, which is important part of doing business, because as you know administration takes a long time, so anything we can do to make it easer and allow them to get down to the job of putting Canadians to work, because that's what were all about," said Shea.

Meanwhile, Jean says the newly introduced measures will be beneficial to the local business community.

"Well certainly I think its great news for this area, because there's no place in Canada that pays more taxes per capita than we do, and certainly this goes along way towards productivity and efficiency and moving towards a government that listens and acts on the best interest of canadian and that of course means saving them tax money and making them more productive and efficient," said Jean.

In May, CRA released its final report around the acceptance of all 61 recommendations made by the Action Task Force on Small Business Issues, established in 2006.

Measures aimed at the improving electronic services, increasing filing and remitting thresholds, and establishing a framework to measure progress in burden reduction.

The Tories have also extend their Hiring Credit for Small Business, helping to offset the cost of hiring new employees.