EN FR

Wealth tax is silly political posturing

Author: Franco Terrazzano 2021/07/15
  • PBO report shows wealth tax would collect $12 billion annually for five years
  • Trudeau government’s deficit spending would go through the wealth tax revenue in one month

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to rein in spending to tackle the deficit in light of a Parliamentary Budget Officer report that shows an “extreme wealth tax” would not cover the budget gap. 

“Politicians’ eat-the-rich mentality is just silly political posturing,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “The PBO data shows that the Trudeau government’s deficit spending would burn through the extra cash in about a month, so if the feds don’t start saving money, it will be everyday Canadians that get clobbered by the debt tab.”

The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report today showing that a “one-time tax on extreme wealth” might generate $12 billion annually for the federal government, or $60 billion over five years. 

The CTF pointed out that this revenue would cover about one month of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2021 deficit spending. 

Over five years, the federal government’s deficit spending is expected to total $332 billion, according to the 2021 budget. Even with this wealth tax revenue, the government’s budget gap would still be $271 billion.

The budget projects annual spending to be more than $100 billion higher by 2026 than it was in 2019.

“The feds need to take the $1-trillion debt problem seriously, and that means they shouldn’t be raising permanent government spending by $100 billion by 2026,” said Terrazzano. “Politicians need to be honest with Canadians about how they intend to pay for all this government debt, and they should be looking for ways to reduce spending rather than pushing wealth taxes, which are ineffective, complex and would hamper our economic recovery.”

The CTF published a report on the pitfalls of a wealth tax which can be found here.


A Note for our Readers:

Is Canada Off Track?

Canada has problems. You see them at gas station. You see them at the grocery store. You see them on your taxes.

Is anyone listening to you to find out where you think Canada’s off track and what you think we could do to make things better?

You can tell us what you think by filling out the survey

Join now to get the Taxpayer newsletter

Franco Terrazzano
Federal Director at
Canadian Taxpayers
Federation

Join now to get the Taxpayer newsletter

Hey, it’s Franco.

Did you know that you can get the inside scoop right from my notebook each week? I’ll share hilarious and infuriating stories the media usually misses with you every week so you can hold politicians accountable.

You can sign up for the Taxpayer Update Newsletter now

Looks good!
Please enter a valid email address

We take data security and privacy seriously. Your information will be kept safe.

<