Sol Zanetti, Jean-Lesage MP and responsible for Quebec Solidaire on sovereignty issues, bemoaned a certain lack of political will on the part of François Legault’s government on the issue.
This is something that would be legally possible. Duplessis’ preparation of the Quebec unified tax report was done unilaterally without requiring Canada’s consent, and I think the CAQ could do the same, he said in an interview.
Quebec has been the only Canadian province to require two tax returns since Prime Minister Maurice Duplessis introduced the provincial income tax in February 1954.
The CAQ had also promised this in 2015 before its election. It was one of the things they showed as a strong promise of their commitment to more nationalist governance, but in the end they never delivered, Zanetti recalled.
Annual savings of 425 million
The cost of this administrative duplication would be more than $425 million a year, according to calculations by the Institute for Research on People’s Self-Determination and National Independence.
First of all, we would have a bureaucratic economy because there is a duplication in terms of departmental structure and employees. The staff who are now handling the Canadian tax report, we would keep a certain part of it. We would assign the others to other tasks in the government apparatus because we lack the workers and we need their expertise, argued Sol Zanetti.
This change would also save businesses and, to a lesser extent, individuals.
“I think we can’t do without that 425 million a year in Quebec. If we look at all the needs in the education system and in the health system, all the needs to accelerate the ecological transition […], we have a duty to efficiency. »
— A quote from Sol Zanetti, MNA for Québec Solidaire in Riding by Jean-Lesage
This new management would also ensure the fiscal autonomy of Quebec, which is currently bowing to Ottawa and receiving shots from the Liberal government.
If Quebec collects its own taxes, Quebec will have the money to send the necessary funds to Ottawa in exchange for the Canadian government’s services, stressed member for Jean-Lesage. This reverses the balance of power by bringing it back to Quebec.
In a statement released Sunday, Quebec Solidaire asserted the province’s ability to act independently in the fight against tax evasion, something Ottawa has relinquished by signing deals with tax havens.
A single tax return would also save taxpayers time, since they would not have to contact two separate people for tax questions.