A majority of Quebecers believe they already pay too much tax, but would still be ready for a QST increase if these new revenues were to go to health, education, the fight against poverty… or reductions in personal tax.
The proportion of Quebecers who believe they pay too much tax, even in light of the government programs and services they receive in exchange, rose to 53% this winter, reports a study by the Chair in Taxation and Public Finance from the University of Sherbrooke unveiled on Friday and based on a survey commissioned from the firm Léger. Almost all the others (45%) said they paid enough, with less than 2% believing, on the contrary, that they should do more.
This result “allows us to understand even better why political parties, during election campaigns, are busy promising voters tax cuts. It is true that Quebecers have one of the highest income tax burdens in the OECD and an overall tax burden higher than the average for OECD countries,” note the authors of the study.
This is the seventh time that the Chair has polled Quebecers on the subject since 2005. And at 53%, the proportion who believe they pay too much tax is the second lowest, whereas the general trend is more around 60%.
The concrete impact of taxes
It is perhaps no coincidence that this lower than average result was obtained at the end of March, when the Quebec government had just announced the allocation of $500 to $6.4 million. Quebec adults to compensate for the sharp rise in the cost of living, note the researchers. The only time the feeling of paying too much tax was even lower, at 44%, was during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when governments deployed extraordinary means to curb the progression of the disease and financially help households and businesses to get through this ordeal.
We also note that the feeling of paying too much tax is lower among 18-34 year olds (50%) or 65 and over (40%) than among 35-64 year olds (60%); among people earning less than $40,000 a year (44%) than among those earning $100,000 and more (59%); or among those who are in school (38%) or at home (41%) than among those who have a job (63%). This is probably because not everyone pays the same amount of taxes and one generally tends to receive more from governments than one gives them at the beginning and at the end of one’s life, whereas the opposite is true between two, explained in an interview to the To have to the authors of the study.
Which does not mean that the more tax you pay the more you complain about it, on the contrary. In fact, according to another survey, conducted by the OECD, Quebec is one of the most taxed economies with a total tax burden equivalent to almost 39% of its gross domestic product (GDP) against an average of 33.5% in developed countries. However, the proportion of Quebecers who feel that they do not get their fair share of public services in terms of taxes, duties and contributions paid is less than 40% compared to an average of almost 45% in the OECD.
This phenomenon may be even stronger in other countries, such as Denmark and Belgium, which are among the most heavily taxed countries in the OECD, but where the feeling of not receiving one’s due is also the weakest. , or the opposite cases, such as Chile and Mexico, where the taxes are among the lowest and the frustration the highest.
The Quebec paradox
Moreover, it is not because a majority of Quebecers believe they pay too much tax that they would not be ready to pay even more, noted the researchers of the Chair in their study entitled: The paradoxical relationship of Quebecers to the tax burden. A majority also say they are in favor of an increase in the QST if this makes it possible to increase government spending in certain missions that are important to them.
Nearly two-thirds of Quebecers would therefore be very or somewhat in favor of a higher consumption tax if it were to benefit health. This proportion exceeds 58% for education and 55% for the fight against poverty. We flirt with 58% when it comes to obtaining in exchange a reduction in personal income taxes, but we fall around 40% if it is to go to debt reduction or tax reduction on employers’ payroll.
Conducted online with 1,044 respondents, the Léger survey was held between March 25 and 27.