This article originally appeared in the Financial Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Jack Mintz, May 24, 2024
Some people never seem to learn that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy and second as farce,” as Marx wrote. That certainly applies to the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau government’s insatiable Marxian appetite for making “the rich pay a little bit more,” exercised most recently in its budget proposal to hike capital gains taxes.
Back in 2017 Trudeau discovered — by badly burning his fingers — that putting new taxes on private corporations hurt not just “the rich” but also many middle-class owners of small businesses. The pushback was enormous, leading to a retraction of several proposals. Now history is repeating itself. The budget claims the capital gains hike only affects “the rich.” That is plain wrong.
The budget raises the share of capital gains subject to income tax from one-half to two-thirds as of June 25. For individuals, the higher rate only applies to gains in excess of $250,000. For corporations and trusts, however, it applies to any gain. The budget forecasts that in 2025 only 44,000 individual tax filers (0.13 per cent of all filers) will be affected, while 307,000 corporations will be more heavily taxed.
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