Tax on Netflix: Joly had been warned by his deputy minister

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QMI agency

Saturday, 14 October, 2017 11:09

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Saturday, 14 October, 2017 11:09

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The minister of canadian Heritage, Mélanie Joly, had been warned by her own deputy minister of revenue losses for the government of Canada and of the injustice to the digital platforms in the country if the american giant Netflix was exempt from sales tax.

Graham Flack, associate deputy minister at canadian Heritage, Flack, had cautioned Mrs. Joly in June 2016, the newspaper reported “Duty” in its edition of Saturday.

In a note of ten pages, presented to the minister, Mr. Flack was a portrait of the issue, including a focus on “a significant loss of income for the government” and a “competitive disadvantage unfair.”

Despite everything, the minister has chosen to ignore this advice and went forward with the exemption for Netflix.

Remember that Ottawa has announced that Netflix has promised to invest at least $ 500 million over five years to canadian content, while confirming its decision to exempt Netflix from sales tax.

The agreement has been hacked into pieces, as by the opposition parties in Ottawa, the government of Québec and by the business community and the industry.

This week, Netflix has launched a public relation for “putting the record straight” so that “conspiracy theories” circulating according to him, since the announcement of the agreement with the canadian government. The american company has denied that the increase in rates recently announced a relationship with the investment it will make in Canada.

Many times, the minister indicated that she had not “negotiated a tax holiday with Netflix” and has ensured that it is working with community stakeholders on a transition plan and reform to “protect our culture in the era of the web”.