Posted: 1/17/2012By: Mark Nolan
Canadian small business owners are dissatisfied with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) - the body that administers and enforces provincial, national and international tax laws - according to a recent report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
The majority of the 10,600 small business owners and financial advisers surveyed gave the CRA a grade of C or lower, citing customer service and excessive red tape as prevailing gripes.
"While CRA has taken steps to improve the way it treats small business owners, those efforts are being drowned out by poor customer service," said Laura Jones, senior vice president of research and economics for CFIB.
"When you include the lack of public awareness about measures intended to promote taxpayer fairness, CRA still has a long way to go to improve relations," added Corinne Pohlmann, CFIB's vice president of national affairs.
Red tape is also a problem south of the Canadian border, according to a November poll by the National Federation of Independent Business. Four in 10 small business owners surveyed said they believed regulatory and legal barriers were stunting their company's growth, The Washington Post reports.