Conservative leader supports a single Quebec tax return
Quebecers would file only a single tax return under his watch, federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Monday.
Scheer told a news conference in Quebec City that he is in favour of Quebecers filing a single tax return, to be overseen by the Quebec government, and would make negotiating a deal with the province a priority if his party is elected in 2019.
“Quebecers are fed up with having to file two tax returns each year,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already nixed the idea of a single tax return that would be administered by the province, saying it’s not a decision to be taken lightly and not a priority for his government.
Scheer took the opposite position, and issued assurances that Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) workers would not incur job losses as a result of any potential change that would see Revenue Quebec manage the returns.
“The only thing that would change is the number of declarations and where Quebecers would have to send them. It’s not a cost-cutting measure but simplifying life for Quebecers.”
The Quebec legislature unanimously passed a motion last month seeking the change.
The debate was sparked when 89 per cent of delegates at a meeting of federal Conservatives in Quebec voted in favour of a resolution to combine federal and provincial tax returns into a single form collected and administered by Quebec.
The NDP said it actually adopted a policy to combine the Quebec and federal returns at its national convention in February, long before the Conservatives floated the idea.
A New Democratic Party spokesperson said the party would work with unionized CRA workers to ensure jobs are protected during restructuring.
For its part, the Union of Taxation Employees, which represents those federal workers, has said it is opposed to the idea of a joint return and warns that jobs in the province would be on the line as a result.
Quebec is the only province to have a tax department that is completely independent and distinct from that of the federal government; residents are required to file two sets of tax returns each year.
The province has collected the GST in Quebec for the federal government since the early 1990s.
Scheer, whose party won a byelection in the riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord last week with ex-hockey coach Richard Martel, has been aggressively courting Quebec voters in recent months.
He said that later this year, the party will publish a report with ideas put forth by Quebecers he’s met as the Conservatives plan their election platform.