Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the House of Commons committee on finance. As noted, my name is Robin Bobocel. I'm the vice-president of public affairs for the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, the largest municipal chamber of commerce in Canada. On behalf of our nearly 3,000 business members, the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is once again pleased to have the opportunity to provide you with our members' most important federal tax and program spending priorities related to the upcoming federal budget.
In our submission to the Standing Committee on Finance last year, we presented three tax initiatives that were essentially cost-neutral priorities that will improve business efficiency, profitability, and ensure the continuation and growth of small business, small and family owned businesses in particular. Because of this, I'm extraordinarily pleased to present these recommendations to you today as we are in the midst of celebrating Small Business Week across the country.
We were pleased that at least two of our recommendations were included in last year's finance committee report to the House of Commons, but disappointed that the government has not yet acted on those recommendations. As a result, my goal today is to provide further clarification on our positions and reinforce the urgency of moving forward with the recommended changes, which we believe will help stimulate economic growth and job creation, contribute to improved competitiveness and productivity in Canada, and deal with some of the challenges associated with the aging Canadian population.
With the first of the baby boomer business owners having turned 65 last year, the most urgently needed tax changes are those related to the tax implications of business succession. In a recent survey of Edmonton Chamber of Commerce members, 15% of businesses indicated that their most likely succession scenario over the next five years would be to have the business change hands. Assuming chamber members are a true representation of the local business population, as many as 6,600 businesses in Edmonton alone could be changing hands very soon.
The survey also revealed that just 6% of all businesses intend to transfer ownership to a family member, and because under current tax laws that family member is then faced with having to pay capital gains taxes on the assets of that business, there's a real concern that the tax burden will be so high that it will seriously jeopardize the continuation of those businesses.
Our first recommendation today is that the federal government undertake a comprehensive review of the tax provisions affecting estate and succession planning in the next 24 months to determine whether the existing tax regime appropriately considers transfer of family owned businesses.
Reducing the tax administration, compliance burden, and assessment timelines for business is another area that can result in significant cost savings that will benefit everyone and is urgently needed. Ultimately, the myriad of current tax preferences enormously complicate the tax structure, increase compliance costs, and open up avenues for evasion and avoidance of tax. Additionally, broadening the tax base would facilitate lower taxes so that everyone benefits.
We have two recommendations today that we feel will address those concerns. The first is that the federal government immediately establish a royal commission to undertake a comprehensive review of taxing statutes with the objective of identifying, recommending, and ensuring the implementation of ways and means to simplify tax legislation, reduce compliance costs, and ensure Canada's tax system is as neutral, simple, efficient, and fair as possible.
The second of these recommendations is related to a comprehensive review of taxation. It calls for a more fair, transparent, and timely assessment process to provide business with more certainty. With that, we recommend that the federal government introduce legislation requiring the timely assessment of income tax returns wherein taxpayers' returns are automatically deemed to be assessed as filed after 120 days of filing, thereby initiating the statute barred period after which reassessment could be issued.
I won't at this time go into more details concerning these recommendations. However, copies of these Edmonton Chamber policies, including background justification for our recommendations, were delivered to the clerk of the committee for circulation to you prior to today's session.
In closing, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce to come and speak today. Our business community is appreciative of this opportunity to have its voice heard by this committee.
I'm eager to respond to any questions the members may have.
Thank you.