Columnists across the political spectrum support the Federal tax proposals
There is broad political support for fairer taxation. Even though Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has launched his fall offensive on these issues, many conservatives do not support him. National Post columnist Andrew Coyne noted that whatever levels of taxation or quality of government services one favours, the revenue needs to be raised more fairly. And longtime Conservative strategist Jamie Watt says the Conservatives are falling into a political trap by appearing to support inequality.
Veteran columnist and Economics PhD, Tom Walkom supports the government legislation although he is wary of the Federal government’s ability to handle the heat from doctors, some small business owners, and especially the financial services folks who have a major interest in the current system.
Michael Wolfson is the University of Ottawa Economics Professor (and former senior Statistics Canada official) who has done much of the basic research on the impact of Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (CCPC). His August Op Ed, “The sky is falling on small businesses – or is it?” is worth reading as are his 2016 article, “Piercing the Veil: Private Corporations and the Income of the Affluent” and others in the Canadian Tax Journal.
And, of course evidence mounts that the current Liberal government proposals are going after the rich but avoiding the ultra rich. The changes to CCPCs are touted to raise an additional $250 million in revenue but the Liberals have so far ignored change to taxation for capital gains (outside of CCPCs), stock options, and family trusts where many billions on new revenue might be fund.
Finally Global News has a nice piece de-bunking the claim that CCPCs will face a 73% taxation rate with these changes.