One B.C. restaurant owner is being applauded for his transparency for covering part of the employer health tax with an up-front charge on customer bills, but the idea isn91裸聊视频檛 catching on yet.
As B.C. small businesses deal with the cost of the new tax on the portion of their payroll exceeding $500,000, they have to look at strategies to cover another cost, along with rising minimum wage, property tax and supplier increases.
In the restaurant business, with part-time staff and narrow profit margins, the choices came down to four, says Rob Chyzowski, owner of Belleville91裸聊视频檚 Watering Hole and Diner in downtown Victoria. With the new health tax costing him an estimated $40,000 a year, he could lay off staff, increase the price of food and beer, reduce serving sizes or add a new charge to the bill.
Chyzowski opted for the latter, a one-per-cent charge on customer bills labelled 91裸聊视频淏CH91裸聊视频� to represent the additional cost. He says most customers have accepted it.
Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association, says he hasn91裸聊视频檛 heard of any other restaurant or pub going the same route.
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91裸聊视频淭here is a concern about the cost of the health tax, no question about it,91裸聊视频� Tostenson said Friday. 91裸聊视频淏ut there has been nobody else who91裸聊视频檚 come out and said, 91裸聊视频業91裸聊视频檓 doing this.91裸聊视频� So I think the industry is probably looking at, will it work, and maybe if it works, they should do the same thing.91裸聊视频�
Another Vancouver Island restaurant owner, Calen McNeil, is looking at his options as his Big Wheel Burgers chain has grown to four restaurants. He pays above minimum wage and health benefits to keep employees in a tight market for skilled workers, but he says the new payroll tax is pushing him below the break-even point.
91裸聊视频淚n effect I have to borrow the money to pay the tax,91裸聊视频� McNeil told radio station CKNW this week.
His latest burger restaurant opened in Nanaimo, but for further expansion, he91裸聊视频檚 looking outside B.C.
The must be paid quarterly by most larger companies, at a rate of 2.925 per cent on payroll amounts between $500,000 and $1.5 million. Above that, the tax is charged at 1.95 per cent, applying to 91裸聊视频渁ll remuneration91裸聊视频� including benefits paid to employees.
The B.C. government has an employer health tax so business owners can estimate their payroll and meet the quarterly deadlines to pay it. That system earned the B.C. government a 91裸聊视频減aperweight award91裸聊视频� from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business this week for imposing complicated regulations on business.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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