the "tax the billionaires" political refrain is Good Actually in part because it is a call for the people at the top to actually be constrained by rules informed by the public interest, a virtue that fingerwagging correctives about how much revenue such taxes would *really* generate doesn't address

In our latest for The Breach, Jared and I do a deep dive on how continued tax haven abuse is not just despite our government policy - it's because of our government policy.

Great to see income inequality getting the in-depth coverage it deserves! When we think about economic policy, we need to think not just about growth, but about how economic growth will be distributed - too often it has benefitted shareholders and CEOs, not workers.

In total, estimates suggest tax havens cost Canada $15B annually, enough to fund our new dental care program and a true single-payer pharmacare program. It is high time our government takes this problem seriously and commits to close these loopholes for good.

The use of tax havens is not just due to a few bad apples. We found that over three quarters of S&P/TSX 60 firms have at least one subsidiary in a tax haven, and the real number is likely even higher. Through differences in foreign tax rates, these firms avoided $7B in taxes in 2024.

Asset shifting to tax havens has expanded because successive governments have expanded a loophole that allows companies to return profits to Canada tax-free. After this loophole was expanded to 5 tax havens in the early 2010s, an additional $47.1B was shifted to these countries in the next 5 years

After decades of international cooperation and the domestic implementation of a global minimum corporate tax, the use of tax havens must be declining, right?

Actually, our new report finds Canadian assets in tax havens hit a record $682B in 2024, up 165% from 2014 www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources...

When asked about preventing corporate tax avoidance, Carney promised to review the corporate tax system but failed to commit to any meaningful action to stop the use of tax havens. With @c4tf.bsky.social, I explained why all parties need to address this now: www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources...

We could start by shifting the tax burden back towards the top 1%, who currently pay a total tax rate about half the rate of a median earner in Canada.

Since 1982, the after-tax incomes of the top 1% have increased by 511% and the top 0.01% have increased of 942%.

If we are to truly solve the affordability crisis, we must move beyond a narrow focus on GDP growth and ensure policies benefit those most directly impacted by the affordability crisis.

During the neoliberal era, Canada’s economic growth has been disproportionately captured by the top 1%. After-tax incomes for half of Canadians have increased at less than half the rate of GDP growth. The difference has gone to the top 1%.

While affordability concerns heightened during the pandemic, they were not new...

Half of Canadians’ market incomes increased less than the cost of living from 1982 to 2022. Shelter costs increased from 23.4% of a typical household’s budget in 1982 to 31.4%.

www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources...