Thursday’s federal budget will include an additional tax on big chartered banks and major insurance companies that raked in huge profits during the pandemic..As first reported by CTV News,.financial institutions will see their corporate income taxes increase, but by how much is yet to be revealed..During the 2021 election, the federal Liberals promised to put a 3% surtax on banks and insurances companies earning more than $1 billion a year. They claimed this would lead to an additional.$2.5 billion in government revenues over the next four years..“We have a plan for everyone. And to finance this plan, we will ask the largest banks and insurance companies to do a little more to share the dividend of their pandemic profitability with Canadians,” the party’s platform reads..According to year-end fiscal results from last December, Canada’s big six banks reported an average year-over-year increase in annual net income of 46%..While the NDP signalled they are supportive of the plan, it suggested the billions of dollars raised from it should go towards helping Canadians cope with the rising cost of living..“We believe there is more than enough revenue available from companies that have made significant profits throughout the pandemic — made record profits in many cases — and aren’t paying their fair share. We think there is more than enough revenue to pay for the initiatives that we have put forward, and then some,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters on Tuesday..Singh also told reporters the NDP would continue pushing for its previous ask of levying those same surtaxes on profitable oil companies and big-box stores..Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the Liberals’ surtax would lead to “higher bank fees for Canadians at the worst possible time.”.“The government is going after banks now, but which industries, businesses and Canadians will it want to raise taxes on next?” he tweeted. “Also, the Trudeau government would blow through this cash in about a day.”.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will table the budget in the House of Commons on Thursday at 4 p.m. EST..Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
