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“The solutions are clear, easy to implement, and Canada’s corporations can easily afford to contribute their fair share. The federal government should raise the corporate income tax rate from 15% to 20%, and tax excessive pandemic profits, especially from corporations that got public subsidies.” — Dr. D. T. Cochrane, author and economist
Ottawa (13 Jan. 2022) — A new report from Canadians for Tax Fairness reveals that this year corporations in Canada made enough money by 12:33 am. on January 7 to pay all of their corporate income tax for the year 2022. For that reason, Canadians for Tax Fairness named the date Corporate Income Tax Freedom Day.
Corporate taxes far lower than taxes on individuals
“How is it fair that the average Canadian corporation only pays a week’s worth of income towards the public services we all need, when the average Canadian contributes a couple of months worth of income in taxes?” said Dr. D. T. Cochrane, the report’s author and economist. “It’s especially outrageous when corporations have received hundreds of millions of dollars in support from Canadian governments.”
Corporate Income Tax Freedom Day is coming earlier and earlier in most recent years. Government tax cuts and corporate tax dodging have shifted over $1.1 trillion from federal and provincial governments to corporations over the last 2 decades, according to the report.
Corporations can afford to pay their fair share
“The solutions are clear, easy to implement, and Canada’s corporations can easily afford to contribute their fair share,” said Dr. Cochrane. “The federal government should raise the corporate income tax rate from 15% to 20%, and tax excessive pandemic profits, especially from corporations that got public subsidies.”
The report also called on the federal government to close tax loopholes, improve corporate transparency, increase investment in the CRA, and implement a minimum tax on profits recorded in foreign jurisdictions.
Canadians paid a high price for corporate tax cuts and loopholes
For years, governments have been underfunding important public services like health or long-term care. That has meant Canadians weren't always able to get the services they needed and, as the COVID-19 pandemic made all too clear, in some cases it meant people died unnecessarily.
And it could get worse. Already, governments are trying to claim that they need to introduce austerity policies, because they are getting enough revenue to properly fund public services.
What the Canadians for Tax Fairness report reminds us of is that austerity policies aren't necessary — if governments have the backbone to make corporations pay their fair share.