441-02490 (Taxation)

Whereas:

• Canadians are facing a cost-of-living crisis, with three in four people reporting that inflation is affecting their ability to meet day-to-day expenses such as housing, food, transportation, and clothing;
• Business pricing decisions are the immediate cause of inflation;
• Corporations have exploited disruptions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic to engage in price gouging;
• Business profits have risen excessively in Canada throughout the current inflationary episode, soaring to almost 20 percent of national GDP and an annualized total of over $550 billion, representing the highest profit share ever recorded in Canada;
• Workers' share of GDP has been eroded in Canada by falling real wages and the growing gap between labour productivity and labour compensation;
• The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that an excess profits tax would have generated $7.9 billion in federal corporate tax revenues for the 2020 year and $14.6 billion in 2021-22; and
• Canada lost an estimated $30 billion in unpaid taxes in 2020 alone through the inappropriate use of tax havens by wealthy individuals and corporations.

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to act immediately to close tax loopholes in offshore tax havens and implement an excess profits tax and use the revenues therefrom to address the cost-of-living crisis.