There are meetings scheduled for December at Meech Lake, starring the provincial finance ministers and their federal counterpart. The topic is all about how to improve the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP). Of course, there is only one way, and that is for the worker, who will some day be eligible, to pay more for it now. The government should pay more you say? Did you not know that the government only has our money? So be prepared to pay more, to get more.
There is one thing I do not hear in the debate, nor have I read in a lengthy article just last night. It is the predicament of the self-employed person. Someone like myself whose business is a proprietorship, and right now has no employees. I have contributed to CPP virtually all my life and from day one when it was first instituted. For all but five of those years, as a self-employed person, I have contributed double, the employee and the employer portion. It is mandatory. So, now when they call on an increase of say $2000.00 per year for every working person, that translates to a $4000.00 contribution to someone who is self-employed. This is hardly something that most of us can afford. As a tradesman, I am already cutting prices to the bone to stay competitive, yet my overhead continues to rise.
In the coming debate, who will speak for the self-employed?
1 comment:
I guess you will have to retire.
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