Taxation of companies: Ottawa not in a hurry to tax the giants of the web

Photo Francis Halin
The minister of Finance of Canada, Bill Morneau, participated in a business lunch in Montreal on Friday.

Francis Halin

Friday, 2 march 2018 17:39

UPDATE
Friday, 2 march 2018 17:39

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Unable to take the necessary decisions to tax the giants of the web, the Finance minister of Canada, Bill Morneau, preferred to rely on the G7.

“I work with the other G7 countries. I am chair of the G7 this year. We will work together to find a plan that works,” said Bill Morneau, when he was asked if he was going to tax the giants of the web.

Mr. Morneau has made this statement after participating at an event of the Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal in a large hotel in the city centre on Friday.

In press briefing, he reiterated that the issue was important without giving details. “I already answered”, he said, annoyed, when he was asked whether or not his government would take action in taxing these corporations in the digital age.

Save time

Professor Marwah Rizqy, the research Chair in taxation and public finance from the University of Sherbrooke, thinks that Ottawa does that save time by claiming to need to talk to the other member countries of the G7.

“That is what the legislature expects to change the law to ensure that a foreign company doing business here, is subject to the corporate tax?”, she said.

According to Ms. Rizqy, these foreign companies must first be taxed. It is then necessary that they pay their fair share of tax. In Québec, Netflix is losing almost $ 30 million (GST and QST). The country, that number explodes to $ 100 million, she says.

“Is this the France we had consulted when she applied the principle of destination? Is this the Italy we consulted? Is that the Japan we consulted? It is amateur”, she concluded.