Global Courant 2023-04-18 21:49:36
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on Tuesday presented a plan to raise corporate tax based on the size of the gap between employee and CEO pay – but the legislation could run afoul of the House of Commons rules on who can take tax action.
Singh said he was inspired by the legislation of US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders introduced in Congress two years ago.
“Right now, as we experience unprecedented inflation, we see people who feel cornered. They can’t afford their groceries, they can’t pay their bills,” Singh told a press conference on Tuesday.
“At the same time, the CEOs of the companies they work for are earning higher salaries and benefits than ever before.”
The plan would raise corporate taxes on a sliding scale, depending on the ratio of the pay of a company’s CEO to the average wage of the company’s employees. This is according to a press release from the NDPthe tax increase would be 0.5 percent if a CEO earns 50 to 100 times the median employee income, and rise to five percent if a CEO earns a salary 500 times or more higher than the median employee income.
House of Commons rules prohibit private member bills from making changes to taxation, with an exception for bills creating exemptions from new taxes or new tax increases.
“An own-initiative bill cannot impose, increase or extend a tax,” says the House of Representatives practice and procedure guide.
Singh did not say how he would circumvent the rule, adding that he has not drafted the bill yet.
Singh has repeatedly attacked grocery companies and executives, saying greed is responsible for the rise in food prices. Representatives of the supermarket chain, including top executives, have told a House of Commons committee that higher supplier costs and other factors are responsible for rising food prices, and that other products, such as pharmaceuticals and hygiene products, have higher profit margins.
Loblaw President Galen Weston Jr. was the most frequent target of Singh’s criticism; the two traded barbs at a House of Commons committee meeting last month. Loblaw announced Tuesday that Weston will step down as president — a move that comes just weeks after news broke that he had received a $3 million raise in 2022.
Galen G. Weston, chairman and president of Loblaw Companies Limited, waits to appear as a witness before the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food (AGRI) on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Loblaw announced on Tuesday that Weston will be stepping down from his role as president of the company. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)
Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday that food prices rose 9.7 percent from last year. Overall inflation was 4.3 percent.
Singh called on other parties to support his proposal.
“This is to reduce inequality. This is to force companies to end the inequality that continues to grow,” he said.
“This is a concrete way, a measure, that will elevate workers and send a clear message to companies that the inequality that exists in those companies is wrong, and that we are going to incentivize to have less inequality.”
The NDP’s plan would raise corporate taxes according to this scale:
0.5 percent if the CEO’s pay ratio to the average employee is between 50 and 1001 percent if the CEO’s pay ratio to the average employee is between 100 and 2002 percent if the CEO’s pay ratio to the average employee is average employee is between 200 and 3003 percent if the pay ratio of the CEO to the average employee is between 300 and 4004 percent if the pay ratio of the CEO to the average employee is between 400 and 5005 percent if the pay ratio of the CEO compared to the average worker is 500 or more
