Ontario Budget 2023: What you need to know

On March 23, 2023, the Ontario government released its 2023-24 budget, Building a Strong Ontario. The budget maintains the government’s “do-no-harm” approach to small business policy, and does not introduce any broad new costs, taxes, or administrative burdens for small businesses.

The government also announced that while there is a small deficit this year, the books will be balanced starting next year, three years ahead of schedule!

We are hopeful that this will leave the government more open to our calls for small business tax relief moving forward. We continue to urge the government to improve access to the Small Business Tax Rate and the Employer Health Tax exemption, and introduce a comprehensive construction mitigation program to compensate businesses that experience significant disruption from building and infrastructure projects.

Other Budget 2023 highlights of interest to small businesses include:

• Renewed commitments to reduce red tape.
• Investments in tackling Ontario’s labour shortages, including $244 million to build and upgrade skilled trades training centres and $5 million for micro-credentialing.
• A new 10% refundable Corporate Income Tax credit of up to $2 million on qualifying investments in buildings, machinery, and equipment for use in manufacturing or processing.
• $6.8 million for financial literacy education in schools.
• A commitment to review Ontario’s tax system.

We look forward to continuing to work with the Ontario government to create the right environment for businesses like yours to succeed!