NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh Wants The Federal Government To Introduce A Wealth Tax. Here’s What That Means

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal minority government will need to rely on the support of either the NDP or Bloc Québécois to pass most bills in the House of Commons during the next Parliament.

In the final days of the election campaign, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said that implementing a wealth tax would be one of his party’s top priorities under the next government. The day before election day, the Toronto Star reported, Singh was asked which “one key issue” his party would prioritize as a condition for supporting a minority government.

• Singh said: “It should be really clear: the question of who pays the price in this pandemic. It should not be you or your families, it should not be working class people, it shouldn’t be middle class people. It should be the billionaires.”
• He added: “So our number one priority is making sure that the billionaires pay their fair share, so we can invest in all the solutions that we need to make sure people’s lives are better.”

As reported by The Globe and Mail this week following the election results, the NDP leader reaffirmed his party’s commitment to prioritizing wealth taxes:

• Singh said: “We remain resolute that it should be the ultra-rich, the billionaires, that pay their fair share.”

The NDP’s 2021 election platform called for:

• Taxing individuals earning over $210,000 per year at 35 per cent.
• Levying a one per cent wealth tax on those with more than $10 million of wealth.
• Increasing the amount of investment profits subject to capital gains taxation to 75 per cent.
• Strengthening enforcement powers to crack down on tax evasion, and closing tax loopholes.