Majority of Canadians expect to pay more in taxes after Sept. 20 election: poll

A majority of Canadians say while they support a number of tax measures proposed by the federal parties during this election campaign, they also expect to pay more in personal taxes when all the votes are tallied.

A Yahoo/Maru Public Opinion poll finds 82 per cent of Canadians believe increased spending and the size of the deficit will be the catalyst for the additional hit to their finances, no matter which party forms the government on September 20.

In its April budget the federal Liberal government projected the deficit to be $154.7 billion this fiscal year, after a record-smashing $354.7 billion last year, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has already promised that he would tackle the country’s multi-billion-dollar deficit through the party’s long-standing promise to tax extremely wealthy Canadians and corporations.

The poll also finds a majority of Canadians are in favour of a number of tax measures, regardless of which party they support. Eighty-two percent support a luxury tax on things such as expensive cars, boats and private jets while 81 per cent are in favour of a wealth tax on those with higher incomes.

In the last federal budget, the Liberals proposed a luxury tax on new cars and personal aircraft priced over $100,000, and boats, for personal use, priced over $250,000.

Another 78 per cent say they would like to see an increase in corporate tax rates for businesses in the financial sector, such as banks and insurance companies.

However, when it comes a capital gains tax on principal residences, only three in 10 Canadians are in favour.

The poll was conducted on August 30 and involved 1,512 randomly selected Canadians who are Maru Voice Canada online panelists. It has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report