In the midst of a pandemic, taxes are taking shape

In 2020, the first year of a health and economic crisis marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, we Quebecers paid a whopping $174 billion in taxes to public administrations.

Quebec received $86.5 billion; Ottawa $55 billion; Municipalities $15.9 billion and public pension plans (QPP and CPP) about $17 billion.

In total, our various public administrations made roughly $1.2 billion less than in 2019, a “normal” year in which the economy was running smoothly. This shows how “tax capture” continues in its form even in times of pandemic!

This has allowed Quebec to “remain” No. 1 in Canada. Compared to the Canadian provinces, Quebec still has the highest tax burden in 2020, accounting for 38.8% of our GDP. We are ahead of the Canadian average for the other provinces by a whopping 5.4 percentage points.

Another “honor” was not upset: in terms of financial pressure, “38.8%” of GDP in taxes and fees “allows” Quebec to get 9^e Among the 39 member countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

The average tax burden rate for OECD member countries is 33.5%. In the United States, our main trading partner, the tax burden rate is barely 25.5% of GDP.

But in Quebec…

says Luke Goodbot, holder of the Tax and Public Finance Chair at the University of Sherbrooke’s School of Management, who yesterday unveiled Quebec Tax Report, Edition 2022 “The higher tax burden in Quebec than anywhere else (in the country) stems from the extent of government intervention. In conclusion, there are two sides of the same coin, the state resorts to more taxes to fund more public services.”

It is a great good for us and we hope to receive public services in Quebec to match what is costing us more taxes and fees than other Canadian provinces.

Our additional tax burden

In the new version of Estimating taxes in Quebec, which was carried out under the direction of Tommy Jane Dobby, and which also featured Luke Goodbot, Susie Saint Cerny, Michael Robert Ingres, Julie S. other provinces.

To do this, they calculated how much tax savings Quebecers would realize if Quebecers applied the tax structure prevailing in each of the following six provinces. And so, with the Alberta tax structure, we will save $22.5 billion in taxes! With the following counties:

• British Columbia: $16.7 billion
• Saskatchewan: $10.1 billion
• Ontario: $10 billion
• Manitoba: $6.6 billion
• New Brunswick: $661 million

Question: Do we receive public services in Quebec equal to the taxes we pay more than in other provinces? It’s not easy to pretend, I agree!

Where does Quebec stand out?

Among the Canadian provinces, Quebec ranks first in terms of tax burden:

• Personal income taxes: 14.1% of GDP
• Taxes paid by companies: 5.9% of GDP
• Payroll taxes (Health Services Fund): 1.8% of GDP
• Social contributions (employment, parents, medicines, Qatar Petroleum, etc.): 6.1% of GDP.

But at the community level…

According to data reported by the Ministry of Finance in 2021, which was based on tax statistics from 2014, there were 41.8% of large companies that did not pay a cent in tax. Among the medium-sized companies that evaded the tax, the percentage rose to 38.9% and among small companies the percentage rose to 60.6%.

To think that in 2014, Quebec recorded a growth of 3.1%.

While real GDP declined in 2020 (-5.1%) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this suggests that the percentage of companies that did not pay taxes will be much higher.