The Altona and District Chamber of Commerce applauds the federal government's announcement to hold further consultation on its proposed tax reform.

In particular, Chamber Manager Stephanie Harris points to a commitment to scale back a plan to crack down on passive investment income, something she says caused great concern for local business owners and farmers.

"The chamber did host a lunch-and-learn back in early September, and we had the tax experts from BDO speak to our members, and actually some non-members who were really concerned, they came out as well," she said.

Harris added the chamber sent a letter to the federal government, and encouraged community citizens to voice their concerns as well.

"It is nice to see that they are having further consultation, so we do appreciate that," said Harris. "The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is requesting that the government partner with them and undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the tax system to find ways to make it simpler, less burdensome and fair."

She said it's great to see that government is listening to Canadians' concerns on this issue.

"I know that some of our local businesses and farmers require a tremendous amount of capital to maintain cash flow, and there were some concerns that the proposed tax regulations were going to impose risks to that cash flow," said Harris.

Chamber board members also welcome the federal Liberal plan to reduce the small business tax rate from 10.5 per cent to 9 per cent by 2019.