MAGOG, Que. — The federal government is reviewing tax legislation to determine if it could be more rural friendly, says secretary of state for rural affairs Andy Mitchell.
Part of the issue is whether changes are needed to recognize the fact that off-farm income has become a significant and seemingly permanent part of most farm operations.
“It is early in the game to say what will come of it,” Mitchell said in an interview at the end of a two-day national rural conference. “But I’ve asked officials to do an overview of some of these issues.”
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Mitchell said the growing importance of off-farm income is a tax issue to consider.
“If sources of income that are part of maintaining your farm are discouraged because of the tax structure, then we should look at that,” he said.
At the end of the conference, Mitchell asked the delegates to let him know if there are tax issues they would like considered.
He said the priority items could be presented to the finance minister for consideration in a future budget.
Tax reform to reflect the role of off-farm income could be a delicate political issue.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen has been denouncing what he sees as a growing government tendency to consider off-farm income a necessary ingredient in farm income.
“We must not allow a farm policy to develop which says that farmers have to work two jobs in order to be able to farm,” he said in an interview last winter.
A tax change that recognized it as a permanent reality could raise the same objections.
Mitchell raised the issue of tax reform in a convention-closing speech April 28 in which he promised to push within government for a raft of government rural initiatives:
- Making sure rural Canada gets its fair share of national infrastructure money announced in the last budget.
- Improving telecommunication services in rural areas.
- Finding policies to sustain cyclical resource industries that provide the economic base for many rural communities.
- Improving government information delivery to rural areas.
This week, Mitchell presents a report card in Parliament to brag about what the government’s rural policies have accomplished and to lay out future priorities.
His weekend preview came at the end of a conference during which many of the 500 delegates complained that the government seemed to prefer telling them what the solutions are, rather than listening to their requests and ideas.
