On March 27, the Quebec government tabled its 2018-2019 budget. For the fourth consecutive year, the province has balanced its budget.
Before the government tabled the budget, Restaurants Canada was in close contact with representatives from the Finance Minister’s office to discuss our members’ concerns and the ongoing challenges that face our industry.
Our recommendations included:
Reduce the provincial payroll tax
Introduce measures to ensure the recent minimum wage increase doesn’t negatively impact small businesses
Address new labour standards to offset the $350 million cost to small businesses
Help solve the province’s labour shortage issues
Additional funding for various tourism initiatives
We were pleased to see that the government listened to our members’ concerns and lowered the payroll tax and the small and medium sized business tax rate, committed to making new RRQ pension contributions deductible for employers, invested more than $800 million to address the labour shortage and allocated approximately $100 million for tourism initiatives.
Restaurants Canada continues to work hard to get the government to reduce alcohol taxes and remains hopeful that beneficial harmonizing measures will be introduced to Quebec’s income sprinkling rules and regulations.