NDP delegates support wealth tax

The NDP voted in favour of new wealth taxes on millionaires and a $20 minimum wage during its weekend policy convention, at which leader Jagmeet Singh said his party’s focus on making the ultra-rich pay “their fair share” distinguishes the NDP from the Liberals.

The Liberals “chose to side with those at the very top, the ultra-wealthy,” he said in a speech. “It shouldn’t be a surprise. This is who the Liberals really are.”

The NDP tax resolution includes a marginal tax rate of 80 per cent for individuals whose personal incomes are over $1 million, as well as a one-per-cent tax on those with “fortunes over $20 million.” It also involves a tax on “pandemic and disaster excess profit,” which “at least” doubles the tax rate and would apply to “increased corporate profits in times of crisis.”

Speaking in favour of the resolution at the convention, Singh said it’s aimed at making sure the “ultra-wealthy contribute their fair share, so we can reinvest into the things that we need,” such as better health care that includes mental health, dental, and pharmacare, as well as paid sick leave.

The tax motion also calls for closing tax loopholes and action to address tax cheats and tax havens, requiring web giants to pay their share, and eliminating corporate tax credits if they’re not accompanied by job protection and job creation guarantees.

The party isn’t obligated to include the convention resolutions in its election platform, but it did campaign on a one-per-cent tax on wealth over $20 million in the last election and introduced a motion calling for such a tax in the House of Commons last fall.

In his speech on Sunday, Singh said “those who profited off the pandemic, the ultra-wealthy,” and large corporations who make profits in the country but don’t pay taxes in Canada should be the ones who pay the cost of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

When it comes to weathering the pandemic, Canadians aren’t all in the same boat, he argued. “We’re certainly in the same storm, but some of us are in leaky lifeboats, while others are in luxury yachts. In this storm, the Liberals continue to side with those in luxury yachts,” Singh said.

Only 13 resolutions from a shortlist of 140, and an initial total of 500, made it to a vote over the weekend convention.