Retail Council Supports Ontario’s 2020 Budget

At 4pm today, the Ontario Government released it’s budget. Retail Council of Canada is pleased, as today’s budget continues to provide much needed relief for retailers. Some of those items include:

• An extension of the commercial eviction moratorium for small business retailers. This demonstrates that rent relief remains a priority issue for Ontario, and supports retailers by preventing a vast number of ongoing store closures/lockouts.  
• A 25% reduction in Global Adjustment charges for medium and large retailers. This translates into major energy savings, based on the class of ratepayer your facility is:
  • For Class A facilities (e.g. distribution centre), this translates into an estimated average reduction of 14% of the total energy bill.
  • For Class B facilities (e.g. retail store), this translates into an estimated average reduction of 16% of the total energy bill.
• Small business tax breaks:
  • Ontario has reduced the property tax bills paid by small businesses. For a retailer in downtown Ottawa, Kitchener, or London with a $1M property assessment, this translates to a savings of $3,700 each year.
  • Ontario has made permanent the $1M exemption level for the Employer Health Tax. This means that small business employers will save nearly 2 cents on every dollar paid for payroll, under $1M of payroll. That’s more than double the previous exemption level, of $490,000.

RCC continues to push for more small business supports, and will remain active on the energy file. We know both of these items are top of mind for retailers as we adopt an ‘economy in recovery’ lens.

See RCC’s press release on the topic.

For more information contact Sebastian Prins, Director of Government Relations, at sprins@retailcouncil.org