If you feel like you’re paying a lot of taxes in Quebec, know that you’re not hallucinating!
In fact, tax pressure (or tax burden, if you will) in Quebec is the highest in Canada. By regional financial pressure we mean the total amount of taxes, social contributions of all kinds that individuals and companies pay to their provincial government, municipalities, public organizations, etc.
According to the “Public Finance Statistics” study that Statistics Canada just released, Quebecers’ “tax burden” reached about 22.3% of Quebec’s GDP (nominal gross domestic product) in 2022. GDP represents the size of the economy, which is based on the total market value of all the goods and services we produce in a year.
By comparison, Ontario residents’ provincial tax burden was 17.2% of their nominal GDP. In Alberta, it peaked at 9.1% of Alberta GDP. In British Columbia? It was 16.7% of the province’s GDP.
The difference in “fiscal pressure” between Quebec and the other provinces (see table below) shows the extent to which Quebecers are actually being squeezed like lemons by the province’s public administrations.
- Listen to the economy part with Michel Girard above QUB radio :
Quebec outflow of $122 billion
Specifically, the tax burden of “22.3%” of Quebec’s GDP in 2022 represented the astronomical sum of $122 billion in taxes and contributions that we paid to our provincial public administrations.
That’s $23 billion more than in 2020. While Quebec’s GDP grew by 20.9% between 2020 and 2022, our province’s “tax burden” increased even further, by around 23.2%.
Even worse. Between the coming to power of François Legault’s Caquists in the fall of 2018 and the year 2022, or even over a period of four years, the amount of the province’s “tax burden” increased by 27.2% (+ $ 126 billion), exceeding Quebec’s GDP growth by 3.2% percentage points (+24%).
Photo Marc Andre Gagnon
In comparison with‘Ontario
Since François Legault’s government likes to compare itself to the Ontario government under Doug Ford, I would like to point out that between 2018 and 2022, the “tax burden” of Ontarians saw an increase (21.6%), which was slightly lower than the growth (21.9%). in Ontario’s GDP.
The Legault government may keep telling us that under the CAQ, Quebec is increasingly catching up with Ontario in terms of productivity. However, we agree that the 5.1 percentage point gap between the “tax burden” imposed on Ontarians (17.2%) in 2022 and the amount imposed on Quebecers (22.3%) is immense.
Additionally, you should know, again according to Statistics Canada’s study, this gap of 5.1 percentage points in 2022 is larger than the gap of 4.6 percentage points in 2018. In 2018, the province’s “tax burden” was 21 .8% in Quebec, compared to 17.2% in Ontario.
In addition, of course, to the provincial “tax burden” we must add the “tax burden” that the federal government imposes on all Canadians. For Quebecers, this means an additional tax burden of around $70 billion.
For each province, here is the tax burden in relation to its respective GDP levied by public administrations at the provincial, territorial and local levels:
- Quebec: 22.3%
- Ontario: 17.2%
- British Columbia: 16.7%
- Alberta: 9.1%
- Saskatchewan: 14.2%
- Manitoba: 16.3%
- New Brunswick: 18.1%
- Nova Scotia: 20.4%
- Prince Edward Island: 17.8%
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 16.1%
