Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has proposed to increase the Canadian journalism labour tax credit at the rate of an extra $104 million. The tax credit, also known as the “media bailout,” was first established in 2019. The intention to increase the credit was announced in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s Fall Economic Statement 2023.The parliamentary budget officer (PBO) released the cost estimates Friday; it was determined the Trudeau Liberal’s latest increase includes two changes to take effect retroactively as of January 1, 2023. These changes include the “permanent increase in the yearly limit on labour costs that can be claimed per eligible employee from $55,000 to $85,000,” and “temporary increase in the tax credit rate from 25% to 35% over a four-year period.”These changes “will result in an additional cost of $104 million to the public purse,” wrote the PBO. “Estimates are presented on an accrual basis as would appear in the budget and public accounts.”Whereas a positive number would indicate “a deterioration in the budgetary balance (lower revenues or higher spending),” a negative number indicates “an improvement in the budgetary balance (higher revenues or lower spending).”The $104 million estimated by the PBO is based on Schedule 58 of corporate returns (T2) and partnerships information returns (T5013) that received a Canadian journalism labour tax credit from 2019 to 2022.The credits were allocated into three groups of eligible media employees depending on income brackets “less than $55,000,” “between $55,001 and 85,000” and “over $85,000.”“The total number of employees receiving the journalism labour tax credit was projected based on the trend observed in the data from 2019 to 2022,” wrote PBO. “The number of employees per group was determined by using the ratios observed over the same period.”“The cost of the proposed changes was calculated by multiplying, for each of the three groups, the difference between the average tax credit amount per employee with and without the enhancement, by the projected number of employees.”The budget officer noted the proportion of media employees making $55,000 or less a year has increased substantially to 63% from 47% since the 2019 to 2022 period.
