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TORONTO, ON – A series of corporate tax cuts, including uncollected taxes revealed in yesterday’s report from the Attorney General, are causing a fiscal crisis in the province, says Fred Hahn, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario.
“This report is further proof that the Liberals are fabricating a crisis. They claim that they have to attack a collective bargaining process that has worked for generations, and attack the people who provide quality public services like education and health care that everyone in the province relies on,” said Hahn. “But the reality is, they don’t. What they do need to do is crack down on deadbeat corporations.”
The Attorney General’s report revealed nearly $2.5 billion dollars in uncollected corporate and retail taxes. The province has already chosen to write off $680 million of that and is estimating it will write off another $720 million.
The revelation of $1.4 billion in write-offs—much of which is owed by corporations—comes after successive Liberal and Conservative governments have raided the public cupboard to provide billions in tax cuts to profitable corporations. Even restoring corporate tax rates to their 2009 levels would return $2.7 billion a year in lost revenue
“Restoring corporate tax rates to 2009 levels and cracking down on deadbeat corporations would allow the province to stabilize vital public services,” said Hahn. “It’s time for Liberals and Conservatives to admit that the crisis has nothing to do with the people who deliver public services and everything to do with the money they’re giving – publicly and in secret – to corporations.”
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For more information, please contact:
Craig Saunders, CUPE Communications, 416-576-7316
