Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Tuesday his party will oppose the government’s proposed capital gains inclusion rate increase — a tax hike that is projected to pull in roughly $19 billion in new revenue.
Weeks after the budget was tabled, Poilievre finally made his position known when he stood in the House of Commons to blast the Liberals’ plan and their so-called “high tax agenda.”
The government has tabled legislation to increase the capital gains inclusion rate from one-half to two-thirds on capital gains above $250,000 per year for individuals, and on all capital gains realized by corporations and trusts.
Poilievre said there could be damaging consequences to the policy.
He claimed the tax increase will worsen the country’s family doctor shortage because it will levy higher taxes on a physicians’ retirement savings — possibly driving these doctors to retire now or move their practices abroad.
The Canadian Medical Association has steadfastly opposed the inclusion rate increase, saying the tax hike will make primary care worse in a country where 6.5 million people already don’t have access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
Some Canadian doctors warned that the Liberal government’s new capital gain tax increase could push more doctors out of family medicine for financial reasons at a time when millions of Canadians don’t have a family doctor.
Poilievre also said some farmers could be on the hook for higher taxes when they sell a family farm. The Grain Growers of Canada has estimated the inclusion rate increase will raise the average tax paid by some of its members by 30 per cent.
“This job-killing Trudeau tax will drive billions of dollars of machines, technology, business and paycheques out of our country,” Poilievre said, echoing former Liberal finance minister Bill Morneau, who has said the tax hike will discourage investment.
Poilievre said some of the richest Canadians can dodge the worst effects of the increase because they’ve already had two months since the budget was tabled to sell their assets and move money offshore before the measure takes effect at month’s end.
“So, who will pay for this tax? Firstly, people who have one-time sales or disposal of long-term assets, like a grandmother trying to give some of her farmland to her children for homes,” Poilievre said.
The increase has been pitched by the government as a way to restore “fairness” to the tax code by making wealthy people and big businesses pay more to help fund new social programs like child care, dental care and pharmacare.
The government also has said it needs the extra revenue to help build more homes for younger generations locked out of the housing market.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland separated the capital gains changes from the budget itself to force Poilievre to take a stand on the tax measure.
It’s become something of a political wedge issue, with the Liberals trying to get Poilievre to stand against it so they can paint him as a friend of the “ultra wealthy.”
Indeed, after Poilievre came out against the tax, Trudeau accused Poilievre in question period of “defending advantages for the wealthiest Canadians when they sell really profitable investments.”
“We’re stepping up for Canadians. They’re stepping up for the rich,” Trudeau said.
