Economy
John Ruffolo of Maverix Private Equity joins chorus of businesses criticizing increase to capital gains tax
John Ruffolo, founder of tech-focused Maverix Private Equity in Toronto, said the government’s move to tax Canadian companies on two-thirds of their capital gains, up from the previous level of a half, will make it harder for innovative companies to raise money and drive investors south of the border.
Ruffolo said it “feels like 2009 all over again” in terms of capital investment in Canada, a reference to the bleak period of slow growth that followed the global financial crisis.
“That same narrative is starting to play out again, and at a time when not only is the innovation sector starting to feel the pain on the rest of the economy — we’re suffering from the lack of productivity due to the lack of investment,” Ruffolo said Tuesday during an event in Toronto.
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Read MoreOn Monday morning in Sherbrooke, Que., dozens of tractors slowly rolled along a stretch of road between the regional offices of Quebec’s farmers association and the Agriculture Department a few hundred meters away.
Upset about high interest rates, growing paperwork and heavy regulatory burdens, protesting farmers have become a familiar sight across Quebec since December.
“It’s pretty hard to get farmers out of their farms, because they’ve got so many hours to put in, but to see them going out, it means that there is really something going bad in farming right now,” said Benjamin Boivin, a corn and wheat farmer in Quebec’s Estrie region, east of Montreal, who was out protesting on Monday.
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Read MoreJust 17 percent of Canadians support the Liberal government’s recently tabled federal budget, according to a new poll, compared to 40 percent who are opposed to it and 43 percent who are neutral.
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Read MoreOver 1,000 CEOs and Canadian tech business leaders have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland calling for a halt to the capital gains tax hike.
The letter, organized by the Canadian Council of Innovators (CCI), says the tax hike is going to hinder investment in the country.
“You cannot tax your way to prosperity. But in the 2024 federal budget, we see a government trying to hike taxes on investment,” the letter said. “Anybody with experience in entrepreneurship and investment can see how this will stifle growth.”
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Read More‘We are asking the most successful in this country to do a little bit more,’ Trudeau said
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rejecting a call from some doctors for his government to reconsider its planned capital gains tax hike.
The doctors warn that the tax change could undermine efforts to recruit and retain physicians in Canada and threaten the stability of the health-care system.
Canada is facing a severe doctor shortage. An estimated 6.5 million Canadians are going without access to primary care as family physicians retire en masse and medical schools struggle to recruit new residents to replace them.
Speaking at Wanuskewin Heritage Park near Saskatoon Tuesday, Trudeau said the tax hike presented in the federal budget only asks “the wealthiest to pay a little bit more.”
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Read MoreApril 23 (Reuters) – Infant formula makers Gerber and Perrigo have been hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing them of scheming to artificially drive up prices for “store-brand” formula sold at Walmart, Walgreens and other retailers.
The lawsuit, opens new tab, filed Monday in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court, said Perrigo violated antitrust law by illegally agreeing with Gerber to block competitors from cutting into the market for store-brand formula.
Perrigo is the country’s top supplier of store-brand formula, which is sold under retailers’ labels and can cost less than similar branded products. Gerber, according to the lawsuit, agreed to give Perrigo “first right of refusal” to Gerber’s excess formula supply, which a competitor otherwise might have used to sell to retailers.
The plaintiffs are four residents of California, Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania who said they had purchased store-brand baby formula and who seek to represent a class of millions of customers.
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Read MoreSo you may never own a home. Here’s why maybe that’s … a good thing? While it’s easy to feel owning a home is a life goal, it might not be a bad thing to consider forgetting it altogether. Here are some benefits of being a lifelong renter:
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Read MoreIn an April 21 video interview with U.K. member of Parliament George Galloway, Macgregor gave a blunt and shocking answer.
“We have a government that consists of 525 lobbyists – and that’s why we have the policies we have.”
His full remarks open the video with a searing assessment of the level of corruption in the United States government:
I would currently say that we have a government that consists of 525 lobbyists as opposed to representatives – people who are all busy lobbying for money with which they can line their pockets. Now some of them are just ignorant … some are destructive … but all of them, I’m afraid, with very few exceptions, are bought men.
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Read MoreA recent Inquiry of Ministry request revealed that Canada’s Public Health Agency (PHAC) along with Health Canada have combined to spend approximately $9.9 million on social media advertising to promote the experimental COVID injections since 2020.
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Read MoreThe Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is concerned that capital gains tax changes introduced in the 2024 federal budget will have adverse effects on physician recruitment and retention across the country.
While we support the health care investments announced by the federal government last week, proposed changes to the capital gains inclusion rates will have significant negative implications for physicians as most operate their practice as a small business. These changes could jeopardize ongoing efforts across Canada to recruit and retain a high-quality health workforce.
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