June 2024
The Ontario Dental Association (ODA) and its members are deeply concerned about the impact of the changes to the capital gains tax, which will increase the inclusion rate for professional corporations from 50 per cent to 66.7 per cent. These changes will have repercussions on the health-care sector, challenging entrepreneurship, innovation and the ability of many health-care professionals to meet patients’ evolving needs.
The capital gains tax increase undermines all local small businesses that are essential for job creation and economic growth. Within dentistry, it may erase years’ worth of value and retirement savings that health-care professionals, including dentists, have worked hard for, through providing care to their communities. It could also disincentivize individuals from starting new capital-intensive dental practices. This will be especially problematic for rural and remote communities, which are already underserved. Coupled with the phased implementation of the Canadian Dental Care Plan – which is anticipated to provide dental coverage to an additional nine million Canadians – and the ongoing challenges with dental staff shortages, these tax changes threaten the capacity of the oral health care system at a critical time and will have an immediate impact on patients’ access to care.
We ask that the federal government protect the capacity of health-care professionals to deliver the highest standards of care to our communities by rolling back these changes. Additionally, dentists and health-care practitioners should be treated equally as other entrepreneurs through their inclusion in the Canadian Entrepreneurs’ Incentive.