Mulcair pledges to close tax loopholes for the wealthy
OTTAWA A federal NDP government would close tax loopholes used by Canadians on their stock options and would re-direct the money to low-income families, party leader Tom Mulcair says.
Mulcair made the announcement Friday as part of a commitment to reduce income inequality in Canada and move toward eliminating child poverty. He said tax loopholes primarily benefit wealthy Canadians, including corporate CEOs who use them to reduce the tax paid when they cash in their stock options.
A federal election is expected in the fall, and the NDP is competing with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals as the favoured choice for “progressive” voters.
“A fundamentally un-Canadian thing is happening,” Mulcair said in a speech at a conference organized by the Broadbent Institute, a leftleaning think tank. “The tremendous wealth that is being generated in this country today is landing in fewer and fewer hands.
“And those at the very top end are enjoying tax benefits that the majority just don’t have access to.”
Mulcair said that after nine years of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in power, middle-class families — and those struggling to get into the middle class — “are working harder but falling further behind.”
“I believe that it is time to reconnect Canadians with a renewed promise, where hard work is rewarded and opportunity is extended to everyone.”
In particular, Mulcair said, the government needs to do more to help low-income families. He spoke of how then-NDP leader Ed Broadbent spearheaded a motion in 1989, passed unanimously by the House of Commons, to eliminate child poverty in Canada by 2000.
Since then, Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to take action to meet that goal, he said. “It wasn’t a lack of resources. It wasn’t a lack of tools. It was a lack of political will.”
Mulcair said that if he forms an NDP government, it will “commit” to reducing income inequality and “renew” the commitment to eliminating child poverty.
The NDP would close the tax loophole “currently enjoyed by CEOs on stock options” with the government funnelling the funds directly to low-income families through an enhanced Working Income Tax Benefit and enhanced National Child Benefit Supplement.
“This will be a dollar-for-dollar transfer in benefits from those who need it the least to those who need it the most,” Mulcair said.
The NDP said that in 2009, more than 95 per cent of the value of this tax loophole went to the two per cent of tax filers with incomes over $150,000.