Trudeau Hits Canada Banks and Insurers With Billions in Taxes
- One-time windfall levy is applied to firms’ 2021 earnings
- Liberal PM promised higher bank taxes in last year’s election
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Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is imposing a one-time windfall levy on Canada’s major banks and permanently increasing their income tax rate, fulfilling an election promise that has raised the ire of the industry’s top executives.
The measures will force banks and insurance companies to pay an additional C$6.1 billion ($4.8 billion) in tax over five years, according to Freeland’s budget plan released Thursday. The new taxes are virtually certain to be implemented because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already secured the support of a left-leaning opposition party to pass the budget law.