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Results: 676 - 687 of 687
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you for that because I think, obviously, there is going to be some pressure from Bay Street to push austerity models. We're seeing many people, of course, who are struggling to make ends meet, so the idea of austerity coming out of the pandemic does not make any sense.
You have traced, I think, a possible path coming out of the pandemic, and that's with your landmark report from last year, your call that came on the final day of our last Parliament. On June 21 you presented a landmark report, “Preliminary Findings on International Taxation”, talking about the impact of international tax havens on taxes in Canada. In the conclusion you said it would represent, if we include electronic funds transfers, “approximately $164 billion in taxable income and $25 billion of tax revenues lost.”
Since that time, have you been able to see additional figures? You said at the time, on June 21, that this was a relatively conservative estimate. Do you have an idea now of the upper threshold of those tax revenues, the monies that we have in common to make investments in programs and jobs, and how much of that is not part of what the federal government should be collecting?
Yves Giroux
View Yves Giroux Profile
Yves Giroux
2020-05-12 15:31
We have built a bit on that work since then, notably in response to requests from various political parties during the electoral campaign to cost various measures to combat tax evasion or to tax web giants that have income that they repatriate to their home countries or to their head office countries, which are often in tax havens. We haven't built up or refined the estimate of $25 billion that was mentioned in our report of last June, but we have refined our understanding of various types of aggressive tax planning, and in some cases, tax evasion and tax avoidance. It's unfortunate that I cannot provide you an updated number to that $25 billion, but we have a much better understanding than we had then. We also have a much better understanding of the high-net-worth individuals and the various types of arrangements they enter into to minimize their tax bills.
For example, we have a report in the making about high-net-worth individuals and how wealth is scattered or attributed by income level. We have a report in the making that will outline the share of wealth held by various types of families, showing that, unsurprisingly, a very high proportion of net wealth is held by a small fraction of the population. We are refining our understanding of the whole phenomenon of tax avoidance and tax evasion.
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
As a quick question, when would that report be made available? Do you have a target date at this point?
Xiaoyi Yan
View Xiaoyi Yan Profile
Xiaoyi Yan
2020-05-12 15:33
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm happy to respond to this question.
The report is recently finished. It's in good shape. It should be available to parliamentarians in the near future. That's my view, and I would advise Mr. Giroux accordingly in terms of exactly how much time we're going to need from today until it's released.
My personal view, after managing this project, is that it's very close to the finish line.
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Giroux, thank you for being here today.
We just talked about the cuts that will have to be made or the austerity measures that will have to be taken as a result of COVID-19. Of course, there are other solutions.
We just talked about the money that is going into tax havens rather than flowing into our collective investments. Once the crisis is behind us, we could take measures in that regard. That could be part of the solution and could improve the quality of life of Canadians.
As Mr. Poilievre said, and I do not often agree with him, given that the debt households will be racking up because of all the cuts to federal public services, after the pandemic, we will have to allocate the resources necessary to improve people's quality of life.
I have two questions to ask about that.
First, there is one sector that benefited from this crisis, and that is the web giants. Has your office looked into how much money Canada is losing from the fact that these web giants often do not pay taxes or even employment insurance premiums for their employees and do not contribute to the Quebec pension plan or the Canada pension plan? Have you ever looked into that? If not, would you be prepared to do so?
Second, other countries already have a wealth tax. I know that you analyzed the positive impact of such a tax during the election campaign. Could you tell us the findings of that study? What level of investment must be made for the good of all Canadians?
Yves Giroux
View Yves Giroux Profile
Yves Giroux
2020-05-12 16:19
To my knowledge, we have not looked into exactly how much money the government is losing as a result of web giants. However, we have considered a tax on revenue above a certain threshold for technology firms, namely, the web giants. We don't really need to name names; we know who they are.
For example, we considered the effect that a 3% tax on companies earning revenue over a certain threshold would have. I do not remember exactly how much revenue that tax would generate, but Ms. Yan might be able to tell you after I answer the second part of your question.
We also considered how much money could be generated by a wealth tax. Unfortunately, I do not remember those amounts either. Once again, Ms. Yan might have a better memory than I do. However, the important thing is to have control measures. When people see a wealth tax coming, we know that they will quickly do what it takes to avoid paying that tax. The important thing to consider when imposing a wealth tax is the way it is designed and the way we go about it. We need to think carefully about the exemptions we have in mind and we need to have a proper structure in place for applying the tax.
Perhaps Ms. Yan could round out my answer by talking about the amounts that could be generated by imposing a tax on web giants and a wealth tax.
Xiaoyi Yan
View Xiaoyi Yan Profile
Xiaoyi Yan
2020-05-12 16:21
As the PBO correctly put it, during the electoral platform costing, we looked into the web giants—the potential sales in Canada—and if we were to tax that part of the revenue, what potential income tax would come into this country. I don't have that number offhand.
We looked into several issues, but like the PBO said, we didn't look at it systematically, as a total amount that would escape the country through these web giants.
Regarding the taxation on wealth, during the electoral platform costing, we also looked into the taxation on net wealth of high-net-worth individuals. We were limited by time. We knew for sure that the top end of the net worth of individuals was underestimated, because we didn't have very good data to represent the top end of the high-wealth individuals.
The recent report that Monsieur Giroux mentioned is going to address this issue much more methodically and systematically. We are very confident now that we have come up with a modelling approach that can more accurately estimate the high-end net worth concentrated in a small percentage of individual families. That's also brought in line with the national balance sheet accounts. If I were to say what the number would be after all these refinements are done, it's going to be in that report.
Thank you.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
With recent announcements, I think it's generally felt that by targeting only those convicted of tax evasion, the government is setting the bar far too low and is still letting public money go to companies that use offshore tax havens and funnel resources to tax-sheltered jurisdictions with public money.
To the hon. minister responsible for CRA, will companies under investigation with regard to the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers still be eligible for the large business credit, yes or no?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
I would say that your question is too complex to be answered with a yes or no answer. What I can say, though, is that all the programs we put in place really serve to protect the workers and employees of companies, regardless of who their employer is. I can assure you that we continue to fight against companies that use these stratagems.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
I can certainly appreciate folks wanting to evade their taxes, but I want to make sure we don't evade the question.
How many companies and taxpayers disclosed in the Paradise Paper cases have been convicted of tax evasion?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.
As I was telling you, Mr. Green, this type of case is complex because people use very sophisticated schemes. We will continue to protect employees, no matter who they work for. My goal is really to make sure that Canadians have money to pay for their groceries and their housing. Companies that use schemes will be prosecuted and held accountable. That could go as far as jail time.
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
The amount, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, as we know, is more than $26 billion a year, in both legal and illegal tax evasion. Of course, this government has expanded the access of the corporate sector to legal tax evasion through the use of tax havens and treaties with tax havens.
I'll move on to two other issues.
The first is the issue of banks, and certainly, we're moving up to May 1. We have seen mortgage deferrals approved but always with interest, penalties and fees in the banking sector. Of course, the credit card rates and lines of credit continue to be very high. The credit union sector has reduced in many areas to zero per cent for credit cards and lines of credit for Canadians struggling to get through this crisis. The banking sector has said very clearly that if the government provides direction, they will follow. Why hasn't the government stepped up yet to ensure that there isn't profiteering during this crisis by the banking sector, by Canada's big banks?
Second, around the issue of rent relief for May 1, the federal government did take initial steps around commercial rent relief, but one-third of Canadian renters, one-third of Canadian families, are going to have difficulty paying their rent tomorrow. Will the government take steps immediately to provide the same rent relief for residential tenants that they provided for commercial tenants?
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