The Yukon Liberals are promising “significant” tax cuts for Yukon businesses if they form the next territorial government this fall.

Party leader Sandy Silver and Porter Creek South candidate Ranj Pillai revealed a bit more of the Liberal platform Tuesday at a press conference at party headquarters in downtown Whitehorse.

The candidates pledged to eliminate the small business corporate tax and bring down the general corporation tax from 15 per cent to 12 percent.

Both of these tax reductions would come into force on July 1, 2017, said Pillai.

“Cutting business taxes will have a positive impact on economic growth and help attract new investment,” said Pillai.

“It will also help local businesses compete with southern competitors when bidding on large government contracts.”

The Yukon Party government reduced the small business corporate tax rate from four per cent to three per cent in 2014.

The Yukon already sits at the lower end of the spectrum in Canada, with its current small business tax rate.

British Columbia’s and Saskatchewan’s rates are lower at 2.5 per cent and two per cent respectively. Manitoba is the only jurisdiction right now with a zero per cent tax rate.

The Liberals believe their two proposed tax measures would save Yukon businesses between $2 million and $5 million a year.

These tax reductions, Pillai said, would allow local businesses to grow and bring on new hires.

“We will see a larger portfolio of successful businesses and we will make up those tax revenues,” he said.

Silver and Pillai promised that these tax cuts would not lead to programming cuts in other areas.

The Liberals also said Tuesday that they want to expand the Yukon Development Corp.’s activities beyond energy.

“This is the initial intent of the Yukon Development Corporation which has been lost over the years,” said Pillai.

“If you go back to the Umbrella Final Agreement or original documents, you’ll see that the Yukon Development Corporation, the scope of its work, has diminished, especially over the last 15 years.”

Apart from being the sole owner of the Yukon Energy Corp., the Yukon Development Corp. is legislated to promote business and job opportunities for Yukoners.

To the group of reporters present, the Liberals vowed to peel back bureaucratic red tape and make it easier for Yukon companies to do business with the government.

“We feel there’s a direct correlation between the economy, or the slipping of the economy over the last 36 months, or even longer, and the amount of red tape that’s in place,” said Pillai.

“We will reduce red tape and regulatory burdens for small businesses.”

This includes revising the procurement process.

Without giving away details, Silver said the Liberals have a five-year plan for procurement.

He signaled that efforts to ensure local companies are awarded more government contracts would be a part of that.

An advisory panel report on procurement was tabled in the legislature last May.

In it, small and large business owners and government employees said they found the procurement process in the Yukon to be overly complex and difficult to navigate.

The panel made a series of recommendations, all of which Premier Darrel Pasloski has promised to implement if re-elected next month.

Silver spoke of the need to diversify the territory’s economy. He did not get into specifics Tuesday, but said Liberal announcements on this topic are on the way.

The Klondike MLA also talked of the importance of building partnerships with First Nations governments, and said that years of court battles have soured relationships and harmed the territory’s economy.

“We believe that we need to build a strong economy and build jobs for seven generations in partnership with Yukon First Nations and Yukon First Nations governments, with Yukon communities and with the business community as a whole,” he said.

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