The executive director of the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce is using the term 'cautiously encouraged' in reacting to word from the federal Liberal Government last week that it is backing down on some of its proposed tax changes for small businesses. Ben Dueck says changes regarding passive investment and on capital gains were positive from a business perspective.

Ben Dueck"It's encouraging to see that they're responding to criticism of their original proposal. While there's still lots to hear about and learn about, regarding what exactly they're going to do on on some of these things, it is good to hear that they are making some adjustments."

Dueck outlines a couple of areas where the government relented.

"The changes that they made regarding the passive investment income taxation rate is encouraging. It should only affect a small portion of businesses rather than the majority of them. One of the other big encouraging factors is that they are scrapping some of those rules that were meant to make it harder to convert your income to capital gains which would affect inter-generational business transfers."

Dueck says while there is a sigh of relief in the business community, there is still some uncertainty.

"I think that there still is a little bit of distrust and a little bit of uncertainty as to where exactly this will all go. I think we want to encourage our businesses in the community to contact their tax professionals to get a professional opinion as to what this means for their business and also to pay attention to what the final draft of this will look like. I think there will still be an effect on business, it won't be as dramatic as originally proposed, but it'll still make a difference."