Making Quebecers who earn $100,000 or more contribute more, taxing large businesses more and stopping payments to the Generations Fund: this is how Québec solidaire (QS) intends to offer “cheaper bills” to the middle class and create a Climate Emergency Fund.
The primary ambition of the party’s financial framework, unveiled in Trois-Rivières on Friday, is to help Quebecers “get through the worst inflation in 30 years,” said QS spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. , flanked by his economic team.
This plan aims to offer the middle class “lower public transport fares, less dentist fees, lower school fees from kindergarten to university and lower QST”.
We must also promote intergenerational “justice”, underlined Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, sketching a smile when he heard the crying of a baby echo in the room.
Without abolishing the Generations Fund, a solidary government would put an end to the payments intended for the repayment of the Quebec debt. This would generate $17.39 billion over four years, the party estimates.
Instead, a Climate Emergency Fund would be created. He would benefit from a sum of 1.5 billion dollars at the end of the first mandate. Quebec could thus adapt to climate change, which will occur “whether we like it or not,” said the solidarity leader.
QS wishes to achieve a balanced budget from the second year of a possible mandate. In 2026, the debt-to-GDP ratio would be 44%.
Contribute “a little more”
Under a united government, Quebecers with incomes exceeding $100,000 should “contribute a little more,” continued Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. A Quebecer who earns $100,000 would thus pay $170 more in income tax. At $125,000 in income, that amount would increase to $630.
According to the party, its personal tax reform would bring in $5.12 billion over four years to the Quebec state.
As announced earlier this week, QS intends to introduce a tax on large fortunes. This would represent 0.1% more tax for citizens with net assets of $1 million to $10 million. A tax on inheritances of more than one million would also be put in place.
But there is no question of “asking more from SMEs”, assured the solidarity leader. The latter wants to get 4.6 billion in fresh money with a tax reform for large companies with more than 500 employees, as well as with mining royalties and water royalties.
Québec solidaire intends to impose a “GAFAM tax” of $150 million per year on “large digital companies”.
A government formed by Québec solidaire would reform the remuneration of doctors and put an end to the incorporation of these health professionals. “Doctors are not companies, they are caregivers,” argued the QS spokesperson.
Legault critical QS
On Friday, the leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), François Legault, strongly criticized the financial framework of Québec solidaire. In particular, he affirmed that the left-wing party’s proposal to save $8.27 billion over four years in drug costs by creating Pharma-Québec “didn’t hold water”.
Mr. Legault also underlined the “real risk of relocation and loss of jobs” if large companies are taxed more, as proposed by QS.
A “threat” which had been dismissed earlier by the economist and solidarity candidate in Hull, Mathieu Perron-Dufour, who believes that the “stable” political system and the qualified workforce of Quebec weigh much more heavily in the balance for these companies.
With The Canadian Press