Top marginal income-tax rates in Quebec and Ontario are just below 50 percent.
‘Top Talent’
Trudeau’s proposals are at odds with recommendations from some experts who say government should cut taxes on high earners to attract productive workers. Top marginal tax rates in the U.S. for example kick in at much higher incomes than in Canada, said Deloitte’s Baker.
“Immigration of top talent and retaining top talent are important to us,” Baker said by telephone. The Liberal proposal “would make Canada uncompetitive in this area.”
Trudeau also unveiled proposed changes to the child benefit program that would boost payments for households with combined earnings of less than C$150,000, while curbing or eliminating benefits for those who earn more.
The new plan would replace the universal child care benefit, and after canceling Harper’s income splitting measures, the net cost of the revamped program would be C$2 billion.