Connect with us

Technology

Only 4% of small businesses expect stronger sales as a result of the temporary GST/HST holiday

Published

on

TORONTO, Nov. 28, 2024 /CNW/ – Small businesses do not support the proposed two-month GST/HST holiday, according to a flash survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Small firms have major concerns and questions over the timing, process and administrative costs associated with the change.  Over 3,500 small firms responded to this survey conducted on November 26-27, 2024.

“A majority of small firms oppose the planned GST/HST holiday – and this rises to 62% among those required to implement it,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB president. “Only 4% of small business owners believe they will have stronger sales as a result, with 66% of respondents suggesting it will simply shift sales into the tax holiday period.”

Small firms in the sectors that will be required to make changes to accommodate the temporary tax holiday report many concerns:

75% say it will be costly and complicated to implement the holiday – small firms report a median of $1000 in additional costs to reprogram their point-of-sale systems to remove and then reinstate the tax65% say there is not enough time to implement the change71% say big businesses and online giants will have the upper hand in benefitting from the holiday68% say it will be difficult to determine which items are temporarily tax-exempt66% of retailers of goods subject to the holiday report consumers will delay purchases and 54% believe consumers will return products to repurchase during the holiday period

“This legislation was introduced just yesterday – right in the middle of the busiest retail week of the year with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday,” Kelly said. “Small firms – particularly those in retail – do not have the time or resources to effectively make the changes to accommodate this temporary change and very few believe there will be any net benefit.”

It is also important to note that this GST/HST holiday does not just affect retailers and restaurants. Manufacturers, producers and distributors who sell exempted items to other businesses will also need to change processes to exempt the sales taxes during the two-month period. Many are unaware of this requirement.

“Instead of a complicated, temporary tax holiday, small businesses would far rather government focus on permanent tax changes, such as cancelling the 19% increase in the carbon tax planned for April 1,” Kelly added. “But if government proceeds with this plan, CFIB is calling on the Department of Finance to give affected small firms a credit of a minimum of $1000 in their GST/HST accounts to cover the administrative and programming costs.” 

Further, CFIB is calling on the government to order the Canada Revenue Agency to forgive the taxes owed, penalties and interests for any good faith errors made by small firms rushing to implement this change.

Methodology 

Preliminary results for the Flash Survey: Impact of Canada Post strike and GST/HST exemption. The online survey is active since November 26, 2024, number of respondents = 3,591. For comparison purposes, a probability sample with the same number of respondents would have a margin of error of at most +/- 1.6%, 19 times out of 20. 

About CFIB

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.

SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Saving Southeast Asian vegetable biodiversity

Published

on

By

Assessing trends, current status, and building an inclusive roadmap for future conservation and use

3-4 December 2024
World Vegetable Center headquarters, Shanhua, Taiwan

TAIPEI, Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Vegetables are hugely important for human nutrition, and for diverse and resilient farming systems that generate income for smallholder producers, processors and traders. But, due to changes in the climate, diets and land use, we see a loss in crop diversity, wild species and varieties that could hold valuable genetic material for breeding more tolerant and productive crops in the future. So, we urgently need to conserve and use more vegetable biodiversity, and this symposium is major step in that direction. The event will be attended by 35 professionals from 11 countries across Southeast Asia. 

This important international symposium comes at the end of the first phase of the Taiwan Asia Vegetable Initiative – ‘the TAsVI project’ – that is strengthening international collaboration for conserving more vegetable biodiversity in Asia, and promoting the use of vegetable germplasm in research, breeding and farming for improved health, nutrition and climate resilience. The World Vegetable Center leads implementation, with partners in Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

It begins on Tuesday 3 December with introductions, including The WorldVeg Director General and representations from the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other organizations. This will be followed by keynote presentations by leading WorldVeg scientists, and regional perspectives from many ASEAN countries. The second day will focus on building regional consensus on the development of the Southeast Asian Vegetable Biodiversity Rescue Plan, to benefit all countries.

A key component of the Taiwan Asia Vegetable Initiative has been the repatriation back to their respective home countries of more than 3,000 vegetable seed accessions stored at the WorldVeg genebank in Taiwan, that were collected across these countries 20-30 years ago. ‘Seed homecoming ceremonies’, celebrating the return of these seeds to respective national authorities, have been held in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam in late 2024, alongside national workshops to promote the use of the accessions being sent ‘back home’, by connecting national genebanks with universities, government organizations, seed companies and farmer organizations. This aim is to expand such activities across the wider Southeast Asia region.

For media, contact – sara.chen@worldveg.org and angel.jeng@worldveg.org
For technical information, contact – maarten.vanzonneveld@worldveg.org

Acknowledgements
This symposium is part of the Taiwan Asia Vegetable Initiative (TAsVI), funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2022-2024). It is implemented by the World Vegetable Center, in partnership with the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) National Plant Genetic Resources Center; Malaysia Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Horticulture Research Centre; University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Institute of Plant Breeding, and Bureau of Plant Industries (BPI), the Philippines; Kasetsart University Tropical Vegetable Research Center (TVRC), and Department of Agriculture Horticulture Research Institute national genebank, Thailand; and Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute (FAVRI), and Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) Plant Resource Center (PRC), Vietnam.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/saving-southeast-asian-vegetable-biodiversity-302320511.html

SOURCE Taiwan Asia Vegetable Initiative

Continue Reading

Technology

IEI Unveils HTB-230D-R680E Medical AI Computer: Transforming Medical Imaging with AI-Powered Precision

Published

on

By

TAIPEI, Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IEI Integration Corp. (TAIEX:3022) proudly announces the launch of the HTB-230D-R680E Medical AI Computer, a cutting-edge solution designed to revolutionize medical imaging diagnostics.

As the demand for precise and rapid medical imaging grows, healthcare professionals require tools that deliver both accuracy and efficiency. The HTB-230D-R680E meets this need with advanced AI computing capabilities and an intuitive 10.1″ PCAP touchscreen, significantly reducing diagnostic time while enhancing precision. The HTB-230D-R680E is ideal for surgical recording, medical diagnostic assistance, and AI Inference in Medical Imaging.

Advanced Computing Power for Medical Diagnostics

Powered by 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9/i7/i5 processors and up to 128GB DDR5 memory, the HTB-230D-R680E supports NVIDIA Quadro RTX Ampere GPUs, delivering exceptional AI computing power. Healthcare professionals efficiently process imaging data, detecting subtle abnormalities often missed, enabling faster and more accurate diagnoses.

Medical-Grade Scalability and Reliability 

The HTB-230D-R680E is designed to adapt to diverse medical applications. It supports one PCIe x16 and two x4 expansion slots, allowing for the seamless integration of GPUs, video capture cards, and interface cards.

To meet rigorous demands in healthcare environments, it incorporates a 700W ATX medical-grade power supply and a sophisticated three-zone airflow system, ensuring stable operation under heavy workloads.

Interactive 10.1″ PCAP Touchscreen for Intuitive Diagnostics

Integrated with a 10.1″ 1920×1200 LCD featuring 10-point touch capability, this interactive display delivers real-time visualization and intuitive operation with multi-layer gloves, simplifying workflows and improving efficiency for healthcare professionals.

“The HTB-230D-R680E redefines efficiency and precision in medical imaging. By leveraging advanced AI capabilities powered by its robust CPU and GPU integration, it accelerates image recognition and pathological analysis, ensuring faster, more accurate for diagnostic assistance,” said David Hung, Product Manager at IEI.

Discover how HTB-230D-R680E transforms medical imaging. Visit https://www.ieiworld.com/en/product/model.php?II=1055

About IEI:

IEI Integration Corp. is one of the world’s leading providers of industrial computing and AIoT solutions. Committed to delivering innovative technologies in industrial computers, medical IT, and network communications, it paves the way for a smarter, more connected future across diverse industries. (www.ieiworld.com)

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhr4gV4HzLs
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2568260/image_5025592_8953033.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/iei-unveils-htb-230d-r680e-medical-ai-computer-transforming-medical-imaging-with-ai-powered-precision-302317248.html

Continue Reading

Technology

From a Hacker News Post to $1.5M Funding: Recall is on a mission to bring order to content chaos

Published

on

By

A post on Hacker News led to Recall securing a $1.5M funding round, led by renowned VC Jason Calacanis. Now, Recall is transforming how individuals and businesses consume, organize, and review their knowledge.

AMSTERDAM, Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Recall (getrecall.ai), helps users summarize, organize, and revisit information. Unlike most AI tools that prioritize efficiency, Recall enhances learning through scientific techniques like active recall and spaced repetition. The journey began with a Hacker News post that attracted its first investment from Splash Capital within just 8 hours. Today, Recall has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Jason Calacanis, with participation from Blockchain Founders Capital and Rocket Capital. This will fuel Recall’s mission to bring order to content chaos, transforming how individuals and businesses consume, organize, and retain knowledge.

The Story Behind Recall

South African CEO, Paul Richards, brings a decade of expertise in knowledge graphs in the cybersecurity industry, as one of the first employees at Maltego, seeing it through to exit. Recall was born from frustration with existing tools that required excessive manual effort but failed to connect and resurface knowledge effectively.

He envisioned a self-organizing knowledge graph that would dynamically connect his notes and resurface past content whenever new, related information emerged. So, he built Recall as a side project, but after a year of trying, he failed to gain any traction. The post on Hacker News was Paul’s last resort, and it turned out to be a lifesaver. That first check changed everything. He quit his job, went all in, and brought on CTO Igor Gligorević, a true 10x developer from Novi Sad, to accelerate development.

After a few successful Product Hunt launches, including getting #1 Product of the Month in June, the team got into Jason Calacanis’ accelerator programme. They were voted top startup in their cohort which then led to Jason leading their pre-seed round.

 “Our vision is to redefine knowledge management as ‘intelligence management,’ where content consumption is intentional and insightful,” said Recall’s COO, Sankari, who brings over 10 years of startup experience (7 years at Uber and 3 at CloudKitchens).

How Recall works

The web & mobile app organizes information into a personalized knowledge graph, automatically tagging and connecting content based on key entities. There are four main features:

Summarize – Recall summarizes online content from articles, PDFs, and YouTube videos up to 10 hours long.Categorize – Automatically categorize content using topic-based tags that adapt to the user’s existing taxonomy.Connect – Content is stored in a knowledge graph, revealing hidden connections and unlocking new insights.Review – Recall reinforces memory with a spaced repetition quiz, helping users retain content over time.

Product Hunt Launch

Get ready for an exciting new chapter in Recall’s journey! Soon bringing even more utility and powerful insights to its platform. Don’t miss out—follow the Recall team on Product Hunt to be the first to explore the new features.

Recall 

Recall is an AI powered personal encyclopedia that enables order amidst the chaos by summarizing, categorizing, and connecting content in a knowledge graph. It is a Delaware C corp, founded in 2022 in Amsterdam, by Paul Richards, a South African fullstack developer with a deep expertise in knowledge graphs in the cyber security industry. Founders: CTO: Igor Gligorevic (Serbian | FS Dev | EPAM) &  COO: Sankari Nair (South African | 7 years ex-Uber ).

For more information, visit www.getrecall.ai or contact us at support@getrecall.ai.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/from-a-hacker-news-post-to-1-5m-funding-recall-is-on-a-mission-to-bring-order-to-content-chaos-302318913.html

Continue Reading

Trending