Corporate Income Tax Freedom Day was Jan. 7

The holidays are over, but Canadian corporations had another reason to celebrate on January 7. It was Corporate Income Tax Freedom Day, the date when Canadian corporations could have paid all their federal and provincial corporate income taxes out of their revenues for the year, according to a report released by Canadians for Tax Fairness.

Corporate income taxes accounted for an average of just 1.75 per cent - less than a week’s worth — out of their annual operating revenues. The actual effective rate that corporations pay on their taxable income has been cut by more than half, from 40 per cent 25 years ago to less than 20 per cent in recent years.

“We were promised that corporate tax cuts would lead to more investment, economic growth and jobs. Instead we’ve had declining rates of business investment, sluggish productivity and economic growth, record cash hoarding by corporations, and increased inequality,” said Toby Sanger, director of Canadians for Tax Fairness.

“Corporate tax cut benefits have trickled up, not down while Canadians have paid the price through cuts to public spending. They’ve been a multi-hundred-billion-dollar failure,” Sanger said.

As the federal and provincial governments prepare their 2020-21 budgets, they should review how costly tax cuts and unfair tax breaks could be better invested in social programs, such as pharmacare and accessible childcare, to improve the quality of life for all Canadians and generate real economic prosperity.

The report, Corporate Income Tax Freedom Day, is available on the www.taxfairness.ca website.

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