This article originally appeared in the Financial Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Jack Mintz, February 28, 2025
Donald Trump’s tariff wars have grabbed the world’s attention. At the Liberal love-in the other night — sorry, the Liberal leadership debate — it sometimes seemed they were the only subject.
Yet Trump’s tax wars, which are coming, are going to be just as disruptive. The United States seems certain to challenge any country that has a digital services tax (DST), a value-added tax (VAT) or agrees with the idea of a global minimum corporate income tax. Canada has implemented all three, which puts three more bull’s-eyes on our backs.
Our DST — three per cent on online revenues earned by Google, Meta, Microsoft and other digital service companies — is due as of next Jan. 31 and will be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022. Nineteen other countries have DSTs, which have infuriated both the Biden and Trump administrations and Congress. They are a significant trade irritant and, as outlined in Trump’s Feb. 13 memorandum, will attract reciprocal tariffs.
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Jack Mintz is the President’s Fellow at the University of Calgary’s school of public policy and a distinguished fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
