The federal initiative to improve the Canadian tax system by closing tax loopholes to high income earners of over $150,000 is a step in the right direction to fairness. Current tax rules allow wealthy Canadians, especially self-employed professionals, many of whom are lawyers, doctors, dentist and accountants, to pay less in personal income taxes by setting up CCPCs – Canadian-controlled private corporations.
High-wage earners who own CCPCs can split, or sprinkle, their income among lower-income family members, paying them salaries or dividends (even though they often don’t actually work for the company) to take advantage of their lower tax rates. This is not something other working families can do. This kind of tax avoidance is costing all Canadians more than half a billion a year; we shall stop these shenanigans.
Mario Leclerc
Former SDSG NDP candidate