Quick, an economist for QS!

Over the past four years, Québec solidaire (QS) has acquired a great deal of political maturity.

His greatest contribution to the election campaign is major: on the crucial issue of our time, the climate, it is QS who has the best plan, just ahead of the Parti Québécois.

QS presented a quantified, modeled climate plan, aligned with the recommendations of the IPCC reports, approved by independent experts. That should be the norm for any party aspiring to lead Quebec.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also plays fair with Quebecers: he does not try to make people believe that we can limit the impacts of climate change without changing anything in our way of life, except changing his gasoline car for an electric model. .

We can no longer postpone the climate debate. Since 1990, Quebec has reduced its CO emissions₂ by only 3% (compared to -40% in Europe), a lot because emissions from the transport sector have increased by 33%.

It’s mathematical: to reduce our emissions, we need fewer gas-guzzling vehicles on our roads.

QS would tax the most energy-intensive vehicles (eg: $6,000 tax for a new F-150), but this money (210 million/year in the long term) would go to improve the subsidies for the purchase of an energy-efficient vehicle.

In terms of transport, the climate plan is designed to invest massively in public transport in order to offer alternatives to solo driving. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois thinks this is the biggest challenge of his generation. “We don’t blame Jean Drapeau’s generation for having done the metro,” he said in an editorial interview with The Press.

QS is not just a party fighting climate change. The left-wing party is forcing needed debate on issues like our three-tier education system, working conditions for those at the bottom, and voting reform. Whether or not we agree with his solutions.

QS is also by far the most spendthrift/generous party, with 10.3 billion/year of new spending eventually in 2026-2027. Compared to 7.0 billion for the Parti Québécois (PQ), 5.5 billion for the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and 2.6 billion for the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ).

How would a supportive government foot the bill? This is where it gets complicated.

Let’s recognize a quality in QS: unlike the other parties, it did not “cheat” to finance its promises by adding additional economic growth or by drawing on the stabilization reserve of 2 billion/year. But he is using the 22 billion payments that were to be paid into the Generations Fund within five years to finance his climate plan and improve care for the elderly.

In return, QS finances its commitments with new tax revenue. The famous “orange taxes” cleverly renamed by François Legault.

Friendly reminder to our supportive friends: at the start of the election campaign, Quebec was not Texas or Florida, but the ninth state with the highest tax burden among the 39 OECD states, according to the Chair in taxation and public finance.

In North America, Quebec ranks first.

However, QS offers many changes for the most affluent taxpayers:

• the tax bill would go up for those earning more than $100,000. The income tax rate (federal and Quebec) would increase from 53% to 57% for income over $200,000/year;

• 100% of the capital gain would be taxed instead of 50%;

• addition of a new inheritance tax from 1 million net assets;

• addition of a new annual tax on wealth from 1 million net assets ($1000 per million between 1 and 9 million net assets, which would affect the 5% of the wealthiest).

QS stretches the tax elastic too much, in our opinion.

Some measures involve risks that cannot be dismissed out of hand in the name of social justice.

It is risky to tax 100% of the capital gain without coordinating with the federal government, under penalty of capital exodus.

The new inheritance tax would mean that the estate would be taxed twice in certain cases (the estate must already pay tax on the capital gain, except for the principal residence). And Quebec is already the sixth state in the OECD with the highest property taxes, because of property and school taxes.

The arrival of a renowned economist would help QS refocus on the fiscal plan, as Jacques Parizeau was the economic surety of the PQ in the 1970s and 1980s.

QS aspires to govern Quebec. And to govern is to choose. In the short term, the party would benefit from favoring the investments of its climate plan.

If he wants to seduce centre-left voters, QS will sooner or later have to temper his fiscal ardor, refocus, without denying his values.

It’s called making compromises.