Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is leading a caucus retreat this week in Kelowna, British Columbia but it’s been anything but a contemplative session.
He is facing a tax revolt. Trudeau is fending off severe criticism not only from his own Members of Parliament (MP) over a proposed controversial tax plan but, as CBC News reports, now doctors are now saying they are targeted by Trudeau’s tax grab.
An angry bunch of protesting physicians from Kelowna met Trudeau at a town hall meeting Wednesday night to vent their anger.
Dr. Monica Penner said Trudeau is taking away some basic tax breaks that are hitting them hard. She said the Liberal government’s plan to eliminate passive investments that enable doctors to put aside money for their retirement years.
Trudeau refuses to budge on his plan and continues insist that he may be adding a tax burden to Canadians — but only the wealthiest.
“The tax system has, built into it ,things that disproportionately advantage the wealthiest Canadians,” Trudeau said at the town hall. “We know that, we’ve seen the graphs that show middle class incomes have stagnated over the last 30 years while the wealthiest one percent have benefited more and more.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has initiated a tax revolt under an umbrella group representing everyone from store owners to farmers. It is growing daily in the numbers of people and types of businesses that are engaged. CFIB president Dan Kelly tweeted this week:
“6 new biz groups have joined the Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness over the weekend. We’re up to 48 orgs opposing #unfairtaxchanges!”
Trudeau’s finance minister, Bill Morneau, was barraged with questions on Wednesday from Liberal MPs who say they are getting an earful from constituents who are mad at the proposed tax changes.
“We put forward proposals that we’re getting a lot of feedback on, and quite frankly a lot of people are worried … but let me be absolutely clear there is nothing in these proposals that are targeting small, middle class businesses,” Trudeau said.
The official opposition Conservatives are also having their caucus retreat in Winnipeg and leader Andrew Scheer is presenting the Tories as the party of small business.
He castigated Trudeau for supporting massive government spending on the backs of small taxpayers.
“We will not allow Justin Trudeau to keep spending billions wrecking our economy and then forcing local businesses — the very people who create jobs and opportunities in their communities — to pay the bill,” he said on Wednesday.
Another Kelowna doctor, Anita Sanan, said at the town hall that Trudeau is “moving the goal posts” after people have become accustomed to sheltering their income with tax rules that both government and taxpayers have deemed to be fair.
“We were given these tax strategies, legally, in lieu of fee increases that have been stagnant in this country over the last ten years,” she said.
According to information from the Canadian government’s own finance department, three times as many professionals have declared themselves to be corporations than existed in 2000.