Saskatchewan small businesses are feeling the pinch caused by highly taxed commercial property insurance. That’s from Brianna Solberg with the Canadian Federation of Independant Business. When buying commercial property insurance, she says small businesses in the province must pay a 6 per cent PST on top of a 4 per cent insurance premium tax.

She adds that Saskatchewan is the only Western province ‘doubled taxes’ commercial property insurance premiums. The combined 10 per cent tax has been weighing heavily on Saskatchewan small business owners, as 60 per cent of them say insurance costs have become a top concern. This is on top of already-expensive insurance premiums, which 45 per cent of Sask. small businesses say have increased by 10 per cent or more within the last year. To cope, 40 per cent of these owners have reduced investment in their business, while another 30 per cent reduced plans to expand.

Solberg says CFIB is calling on the provincial government to remove either the Insurance Premium Tax or the PST on all insurance products for small businesses. “We’ve been calling for them to remove the PST on this for a while, the 6 per cent. If they can do away with both of them, on commercial property insurance in particular, which is the most harmful cost small businesses are facing, that’s 10 per cent that businesses could be saving on their insurance premiums.”

CFIB also asks the government to reduce barriers for new insurers to enter the market, as 47 per cent of Saskatchewan business owners say they are not satisfied with the available insurance options.