Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy

Canada’s Tax Haven Dilemma with Jared Walker

Broadbent Institute

At this time last year in late July 2024, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad announced that G20 finance leaders were poised to endorse a joint declaration on international tax cooperation that would hopefully help to clamp down on so-called “tax havens” by encouraging G20 countries to standardize taxes on billionaires.

Since then, Canada, a G20 country, has not moved to act on the recommendations to cooperate and coordinate with other countries on taxes, spearheaded by the Brazilian government. In fact, the federal government has reduced the workforce at the Canada Revenue Agency, the government agency responsible for taxing billionaires, by 10 percent since May 2024.

According to a new report from Canadians for Tax Fairness by economists Silas Xuereb and Fernando Garci-Crespo Stantalo, “Canadians had at least $682 billion stashed in tax havens in 2024.” Furthermore, “the cost of tax havens to the public purse is difficult to estimate, but it is likely at least $15 billion annually.”

All the meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney has threatened cuts to public spending that amount to $21 billion annually, without even trying to make up the difference by closing Canadian tax havens that billionaires use to stash their cash. Canada has a tax haven dilemma, and Canadians for Tax Fairness Executive Director Jared Walker joins the Perspectives Journal Podcast to explain why the federal government lags behind this problem.

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