Statistics Article Analysis: Canadian Tax Reform Impact on Farms

This assignment analyzes an article focused on the Canadian government's proposed tax reforms and their potential impact on small businesses, particularly those in the agricultural sector. The analysis addresses the article's purpose, which is to critique the reforms, arguing that they may disproportionately harm family-owned farms by removing tax incentives. The assignment examines the sampling methods used, highlighting the focus on small, family-owned farms to illustrate the author's points. It also outlines the data representations, including line graphs and provincial breakdowns, and identifies the source of the data as the 2016 Census of Agriculture from Statistics Canada, classifying it as secondary data. The analysis concludes by summarizing the article's key findings, which include concerns about the adverse effects of the reforms on small businesses and the agriculture sector, the government's lack of sensitivity, and poor communication regarding the implications of the changes.

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ARTICLE ANALYSIS
STUDENT ID:
[Pick the date]

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Question 1
The purpose of the given article is to present a critical analysis of the proposed tax reforms
that the Canadian government has proposed in relation to the small firms. While the
government states that these small firms which mostly consist of family businesses tend to
exploit the existing tax system and hence aims to plug the existing loopholes to prevent
systemic abuse. However, the article aims to indicate that this would adversely impact the
small businesses especially those in the agriculture sector which tend to need encouragement
in the form of tax incentives. Thus, through the various arguments, it aims to bring to the
notice of the government that it should be selective in implementation of the tax reform and
the objective should not be mere political gimmick but to actually plug the tax loopholes
where they actually exist rather than assuming all businesses as similar entities (Charlebois).
The article has been written so as to highlight that it would be wrong on the government to
view all small business as greedy tax evaders particularly in the wake of declining businesses.
Thus, while the government intends to plug the existing loopholes, it should be sector specific
and should be clearer so as to avoid confusion and also ensure that the small entrepreneurs
are not discouraged. Further, the author also intends to highlight the plight of the agriculture
sector particularly by reference to the falling operations in the recent times and thereby
making the case for fiscal incentives being provided for these rural businesses as the
proposed tax reforms would adversely impact these rural businesses (Charlebois).
Question 2
For the purpose of the article, small farms which essentially are family owned have been
sampled. This is apparent as the current article relates to the impact of the proposed tax
reforms on these businesses. It is noteworthy that the impact of these reforms would not be
limited to only these agricultural farms but would extend to various small businesses in
various sectors. However, in order to put forward the argument that the author considers
worthy, the focus has been put on these farms. Hence, for the given article, there firms are
being sampled and family businesses belonging to the agriculture sector have been selected to
drive home the point that the author wishes to extend in relation to the impact of the proposed
tax reforms of the government (Charlebois).
Question 3

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A particular line graph tends to highlight the declining agriculture operations over time.
Hence, one of the variable is the time (or most specific year) while the other variable is the
number of operations (in thousands). Also, there is another graph which tends to represent the
province wise breakup of the farms. Here one variable is the province while the other variable
is the number of farms in thousands at present. Further, on a provincial basis, the average
farm area has been represented. Besides, a particular statistic also captures the farm types in
accordance with their respective representation. The objective of the above representation is
to represent an overview of the agricultural farms on a provincial level and simultaneously to
indicate the falling agriculture operations across Canada (Charlebois).
Question 4
The collection of the data has been carried out using the statistics available from 2016 Census
of Agriculture which has been obtained from Statistics Canada (Charlebois). Hence, the data
used for this article is secondary as the researcher has used the data which has been collected
by another agency. Had the researcher himself collected this data, then it would have been
termed as primary. For the given article, the secondary data from reliable government sources
is highly recommended.
Question 5
The given article does have some conclusions which are as stated below (Charlebois).
 The current tax reform proposed by the government would have an adverse impact on
small businesses and entrepreneurship in general.
 One of the worst sectors affected would be agriculture which is already on the
decline. Hence, the government needs to be sensitive and should not view all the
small businesses with a single lens of being tax evaders and greedy businesses.
 The government has failed with regards to communicating the implications of the
current tax reform and also differentiating the urban and the rural businesses.

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Reference
Charlebois, Sylvain. "Down on the farm: tax reforms will hurt family businesses." 22
September 2017. The Conversation. 25 September 2017
<https://theconversation.com/down-on-the-farm-tax-reforms-will-hurt-family-
businesses-84505>