If re-elected, Justin Trudeau will tax multinational tech giants that are operating in Canada in an effort to bring in more than $2.5 billion CAD over four years.
The party revealed its entire platform on Sunday, which includes a three percent tax on the revenue generated by tech giants in Canada for the sales of online advertising or any profits generated through Canadian user data.
“Today’s economy is more digital and international than ever before — so our tax system must keep up,” the document read. “We will work with international partners to ensure that global technology giants pay corporate taxes in the country where they generate their revenue.”
This, however, is just a temporary measure, which will be reworked after the international community reaches an agreement in terms of how governments tax internet companies.
To break this down, if a company has at least $1 billion in global revenues per year and $40 million in Canadian revenue, then it will be taxed.
That means companies like Google and Facebook — which have amassed 70 percent of Canadian advertising revenue in 2015 — would get taxed.
The Toronto Star reported that while this tax would bring in a large sum of money, at least $540 million next year, Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer said there was uncertainty with the projection indicating that these companies could take action in order to try and avoid paying taxes.
The discussion around regulating tech giants has been happening for some time now.
Incumbent Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains had announced the Digital Charter, a 10 point principled plan that would guide policymakers on future legislation of digital platforms. The Digital Charter, however, did not have any concrete forms of regulation.
Conservative Party and NDP members have both suggested better rules should be enacted. The three parties have also had parliamentarians from other countries to host the International Grand Committee on disinformation to better understand how to regulate digital platforms.
Source: Liberal Party of Canada Via: The Toronto Star
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