(Quebec) The health tax that the Legault government abandoned would have affected “less than 300,000” of the 550,000 unvaccinated and its incentive effect on vaccination would have been “mixed”, estimates the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard.
Posted at 1:57 p.m.
In a brief scrum on Wednesday, he denied that the government’s pushback was due to difficulties in enforcement.
“It was complex to put in place, but we had found a way through” and the bill was “ready”, he argued. His firm maintains that a legal opinion had been obtained showing that this tax did not contravene the Canada Health Act insofar as they are not asked to pay for treatment and that their access to health services is not blocked.
He claimed the government wanted to exempt vulnerable and low-income people. Result: “less than 300,000 people would have been targeted,” he said.
“It was a measure whose application was altogether limited. The number of people who would have been affected by this contribution was limited when taking into account the exclusions. And the benefit, the number of people who would have been incentivized to get vaccinated, when weighing the pros and cons, was mixed. »
This tax would have been modulated according to income – from a minimum of $100 to $200 to a maximum of $800 to $1,000.