English | French Join us in calling on the federal government to implement wealth and inheritance taxes in the 2020 budget.
Would you believe that Canada is home to the 5th most ultra high net wealth individuals on the planet[1]? That’s right, in Canada the 87 wealthiest families together own $259 billion[2]. The wealthiest 10% of Canadians hold more than half of all wealth in the country[3], while those in the bottom half own less than 5%[4]. And only a fraction of the wealth gets taxed, allowing the wealthy to keep on accumulating.
This concentration of wealth supports the most affluent families to own multiple properties[5], take luxurious vacations[6], and attend taxpayer-subsidized private schools[7] -- while many Canadians take on more and more debt[8] and struggle to make ends meet[9].
We have the wealth we need to address the climate crisis, end homelessness, and other critical programs and services: but it’s in the wrong pockets.
That is why we are calling on the federal government to implement a wealth tax and an inheritance tax in the 2020 budget.
Canada is the only G7 nation without an inheritance tax. The U.S., Japan, Spain and many other countries all have one[10]. Experts say inheritance taxes are a “key mechanism” for making things more fair and promoting wealth distribution[11].
We need a wealth tax, too. Even a modest wealth tax, hitting only the richest Canadians, would raise over $9 billion per year[12] to pay for the vital programs and services we need. Polls show that most Canadians -- across party lines -- support such a tax[13].
We’re calling for a wealth tax that hits only the top 10% of Canadians, increasing to a marginal rate of 10% on each dollar of wealth of over $20 million.
To complement this, we’re calling for an inheritance tax that also hits the top 10% of estates, increasing to a marginal rate of 55% on estates over $7.5 million.
The 2020 budget will be published in the next few weeks. Sign the petition now to tell Prime Minister Trudeau the time is now to implement wealth taxes!
We can’t wait any longer for tax fairness in Canada.
Sources:
[1] https://www.wealthx.com/report/world-ultra-wealth-report-2019/
[2] https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2018/07/Born%20to%20Win.pdf
[3] https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/broadbent/pages/32/attachments/original/1430002827/Haves_and_Have-Nots.pdf?1430002827
[4] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/01/21/news/obscene-gap-between-rich-and-poor-says-oxfam
[5] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/globe-wealth/where-the-rich-are-finding-second-homes-abroad/article35178528/
[6] https://insurance-portal.ca/article/wealthy-canadians-spend-12000-on-vacations/
[7] https://www.ourkids.net/school/provincial-funding-for-private-schools
[8] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2019001/article/00010-eng.htm
[9] http://www.cwp-csp.ca/poverty/just-the-facts/
[10] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/inheritance-tax-ccpa-1.4767137
[11] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-wealth-high-net-worthy-1.4814907
[12] https://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/web/default/files/Documents/ElectionProposalCosting/Results/32630202_EN.pdf
[13] https://ricochet.media/en/2599/poll-over-two-thirds-of-canadians-back-a-wealth-tax
