Jun 19, 2024 - 09:53
By cbc.ca

The capital gains debate has turned dramatic and mysterious

Announcing the Liberal government's proposed changes to capital gains taxes last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland repeated a thought experiment she first suggested in her budget speech back in the spring.

The richest Canadians, Freeland said, should ask themselves whether they «want to live in a country where those at the very top live lives of luxury, but must do so in gated communities behind ever higher fences, using private health care and airplanes, because the public sphere is so degraded and the wrath of the vast majority of their less-privileged compatriots burns so hot.»

Days later, after announcing his party's intention to vote against the changes, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released a 16-minute video on the topic that referenced Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

It's not clear what the examples of those two monstrous dictators should tell us about how capital gains should be taxed in Canada — whether, for instance, 50 per cent of capital gains over $250,000 should be taxed at the normal rate of personal income, or whether the «inclusion rate» should be set at 67 per cent instead.

Nor is it obvious that an increase in the inclusion rate is the only thing keeping the country from realizing the plot of a dystopian horror film.

But if the government was looking for a fight, it has one now. And even if the rhetoric has strayed rather far from the substance, there are real stakes to this fight.

To this debate, Poilievre has now added not only odd historical references but also an element of mystery — a promise to pursue some unspecified tax reform if he forms government.