The Liberals will count on the fight against tax havens to limit the deficit if they are elected. By raising $3.3 billion over five years in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere, they believe they can limit this deficit to $2.7 billion in the first year.
The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) is the first party to present its financial framework. An exercise written under the sign of caution, insisted one of its architects, the former finance minister Carlos Leitao who leads the liberal campaign.
“The situation is not as positive as some parties suggest,” says the party, which notably expects a further rise in interest rates this fall.
To minimize the impact of the economic situation on the population, the party is proposing no less than $29 billion in new measures over five years. Since he does not want to touch the Generations Fund and maintain the pace of debt repayment, he expects to have to run up deficits over several years. Fiscal balance would therefore not be achieved before 2029.
A question of “political will”
Over five years, the PLQ intends to draw $1.2 billion from individual tax havens and nearly double that from corporate tax havens. To increase his income, he is also counting on a new tax on the “super rich” which should bring him $350 million a year from 2023-2024. The intensification of the fight against undeclared work would also make it possible to generate the same amount each year.
The Liberals are not the first to target tax havens as a potential source of revenue. However, the results of many governments have often been disappointing in these matters in the past. Why would this time be the right one? It’s a question of “political will”, retorts the team of chef Dominique Anglade.
The PLQ relies from the outset on a report produced in 2017 at the time of the Couillard government by the Public Finance Commission on the subject. He also criticizes the government of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) for not having acted on it.
The Liberals need additional sources of revenue to compensate for the tax cuts and the many personal aids they have presented this week. The tax cuts alone will cost the state $2.4 billion a year.
More details will follow.