NDP touts ‘super wealth tax’
Party says measure could raise $70 billion over the next decade,
OTTAWA— The New Democratic Party marked the last day before the 2019 federal election campaign by touting their proposed “super wealth tax,” as leader Jagmeet Singh tries to win over progressive voters with his plan to take from the rich to pay for big programs.
While attacking Liberal cabinet ministers Tuesday over their corporate histories, the NDP is billing itself as the only party with the gumption to take on the rich and business elites in this election. Among its suite of tax increases aimed at these groups, the NDP is promising to create a new 1 per cent tax on wealth exceeding $20 million, including real estate, “luxury items” and investments.
On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Budget Office — the federal government’s fiscal watchdog agency — released a report that estimated this tax could bring as much as $70 billion into federal coffers over the next 10 years. The PBO notes, however, that this would likely trigger efforts to avoid paying the tax and that government revenues would depend in a big way on how Ottawa would enforce it.
Singh and his party seized on the costing estimate as evidence their tax plan will bring in the money needed to pay for their promises. These include the creation of a national pharmacare program within a year, followed by a “head to toe” health-care expansion to bring mental health, vision, dental, addictions services and more into Canada’s public system.
Speaking at a family’s home in Hamilton Tuesday, Singh cited the PBO estimate that says the tax could raise as much as $9.5 billion in 2028-29, and that this money could help pay for the universal pharmacare program his party promises would cover prescription medication for all Canadians.
“It is the right thing to do and a strong measure that’s going to increase our revenue so we can pay for this important program,” Singh said.
With the federal election campaign set to start Wednesday, the NDP is trying to paint the Liberal government as a disappointment for left-leaning voters who supported the party in the 2015 election. In a statement Tuesday, the NDP accused them of failing to “tax the ultra rich,” citing the corporate history of Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Infrastructure Minister François-Philippe Champagne as reasons for this alleged inaction. The NDP pointed to how Morneau was intensely criticized in 2017 for holding shares in his family pension company, Morneau Sheppell, while the Liberal government contemplated changing the law to allow for a new type of pension that could have profited the firm. Morneau ultimately sold his shares in the company.
The party also cited reporting on a chief Liberal fundraiser’s use of an offshore trust, and a Journal de Montréal report from 2016 that said Champagne green-lighted using tax shelters when he worked for a waste treatment company.
In an emailed statement to the Star, Liberal campaign spokesperson Joe Pickerell said the government “has a record of improving tax fairness for families” by cracking down on tax evasion and restricting the “excessive use” of lower tax stock compensation for business executives — a move the New Democrat MPs voted against in June. After taking power in 2015, the Liberals also created a new tax bracket to raise income taxes on people earning more than $200,000 per year from 29 to 33 per cent.
Alongside their promised wealth tax, the NDP vows to hike the corporate income tax, further increase income tax for people earning more than $210,000 per year to 35 per cent and increase taxes on capital gains.
The party also promises to crack down on tax dodgers and further restrict the stock option compensation for executives.
The NDP seized on the PBO estimate as evidence their tax plan will bring in the cash needed to pay their promises