Evidence of meeting #16 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
We'll move to Mr. Blaikie. You're up for a quick question and answer.
5:30 p.m.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you.
Mr. Macdonald, we've heard a lot of concern today about Canada's public finances and recommendations to control spending, but we haven't heard a lot of talk on the revenue side. We're in a position now where 1% of Canada's population controls 25% of the wealth, which hasn't been the case for a very long time. I'm wondering if you can speak to the revenue side of the equation when we talk about balancing the government's books.
5:30 p.m.
Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Yes, of course there's always a focus on attempting to cut back government spending. Often that will kick the problem to some other part of the Canadian economy, whether the provinces or households, which then have to deal with that debt because health care costs are rising or something like that. Certainly, the other side that I think is underappreciated, as you point out, is the expenditure side. A wealth tax could raise $10 to $20 billion a year; increased taxation of the corporate sector, for instance, could raise $7 to $8 billion a year. The corporate income tax promise was that big increases in capital investment would result, which never appeared, unfortunately. So I think it's time to turn back—the way the Americans and those in the U.K. are—towards higher corporate taxes, as well as closing corporate tax loopholes, particularly for large corporations. These are ways we can also reduce the deficit without harming people who rely on government services like health care, child care and so on.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
That is our time.
Thank you, Mr. Blaikie.
To the witnesses, on behalf of the members, the clerk, the staff, the interpreters and everybody who makes the magic happen here, we want to thank you so much for your testimony and answers to the many questions as you inform our pre-budget consultation and report.