Quebec alone in the fight for the taxation of digital services

Photo Simon Clark
The quebec minister of Finance, Carlos Leitao

Maxime Huard

Monday, December 11, 2017 20:33

UPDATE
Monday, December 11, 2017 20:36

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OTTAWA | the Face of the inaction of the federal and the silence of the other provinces, Quebec remains determined to impose a single sales tax on online services. It is expected that the Ottawa agreement to be able to do so without collecting GST.

“I broached the subject, but as you noticed, there was no great interest on the part of the other,” said quebec’s minister of Finance, Carlos Leitao, media scrum on Monday at the end of the meeting with his counterparts at the federal and provincial governments, in Ottawa.

Asked a few minutes earlier to see if they had an opinion on the issue of taxation of electronic commerce, the provincial Finance ministers from across the country have remained silent.

The federal government has once again closed the door, double-turn to any form of taxation on the streaming service Netflix. “We have clearly indicated during the election campaign that we do taxerions not Netflix.

Our position has not changed”, was repeated several times with the federal minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, reaffirming the position which is that of the liberal Party since 2015.

“We, as we have already said, we will put in place the necessary measures to impose sales tax on digital services online,” said Mr. Leitao.

If he wants to go forward, Québec must, however, derogate from the agreement on harmonization of sales taxes signed in 2011 with Ottawa. To do this, it must receive a written authorization from the federal that would allow him to impose QST without collecting GST, has informed the cabinet of the minister Leitao.

Challenged by the QMI Agency, the office of the minister Morneau says he is ready to collaborate with the government Couillard.

Critics abound against the federal government since it announced in September an agreement of $ 500 million with Netflix. The agreement provides for investments in the production, but does not include the broadcasting service in line with no tax, unlike traditional broadcasters.

In an output media, a collective gathering hundreds of artists, organizations and business people, also denounced last week a “preferential treatment” by the federal government.