Budget Day 3: Tech sector continues pushback on capital gains
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, pictured with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Liberals tabled the 2024 budget on April 16.
Three days after releasing her 2024 budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland continued to take heat on the government’s plan to raise capital gains taxes from the tech sector.
The Council of Canadian Innovators, an industry advocacy group, is organizing a campaign to force the government to scrap the measures, which are projected to raise about $20 billion over five years for federal coffers. The Council’s president, Benjamin Bergen, has written an op-ed in the National Post outlining his concerns.
Sharing the sentiment is Kim Furlong, chief executive officer of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. Furlong wrote separately in the National Post that the decision “might just be the single most damaging policy change for Canadian entrepreneurs.”
In an interview with The Logic on Wednesday, Freeland said the government’s research showed the taxes won’t hurt growth or impact entrepreneurs. On Friday, the news site reported that Freeland had invited executives from some prominent Canadian scale-ups, venture funds and sector organizations to a meeting in Toronto to discuss changes to the tax provision.
The CBC's Benjamin Lopez Steven interviews tax experts and takes a closer look at how the capital gains changes could impact real estate investors.
Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail’s Laura Stone and Marieke Walsh report on criticism from Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the province’s medical association, which claims the capital gains tax move will have serious impacts on doctors.
In an interview with BNN’s Jon Erlichman, former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said he thinks the additional taxes will make Canada a less attractive place for investment.
