The Trudeau government has taken steps to further collude with the World Economic Forum by signing Canada up to participate in a Global Minimum Tax as part of the WEF’s New Global Tax Agenda, with plans to create a Global Carbon Tax.
The deal, which is being overseen by the OECD and facilitated by the WEF and its Young Global Leaders, involves over 140 countries that have agreed to sign a multilateral international treaty consisting of two pillars with the goal of taxing multinational corporations wherever they do business.
As per the agreement, multinationals would be subject to a 15% tax rate regardless of the country in which they operate. The stated goal of this tax is to prevent multinationals from taking advantage of so-called tax havens like Switzerland and Ireland—a practice in which a company will have its headquarters in a low-tax nation while making the majority of its profits in countries like the US.
Unsurprisingly, Canada, which is led by three of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders (Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland, and Jagmeet Singh), is participating.
Pillar One of the scheme involves branding the WEF’s tax as the Digital Services Tax, which Canada will use to target companies utilizing Canadians’ data before expanding it to other areas.
As per Budget 2024, “Canada reaffirms its commitment to Pillar One and will continue to work diligently to finalize a multilateral treaty and bring the new system into effect as soon as a critical mass of countries is willing. However, in view of consecutive delays internationally in implementing the multilateral treaty, Canada cannot continue to wait before taking action.”
Pillar Two will involve rolling out the rest of the scheme, i.e., establishing a global minimum corporate tax rate.
As per the budget, “Pillar Two of the plan is a global minimum tax regime to ensure that large multinational corporations are subject to a minimum effective tax rate of 15 per cent on their profits wherever they do business. The federal government is moving ahead with legislation to implement the regime in Canada, following consultations last summer on draft legislative proposals for the new Global Minimum Tax Act.”
The government plans to introduce this legislation in Parliament soon.
Why is this concerning?
While on its surface, a global tax on multinationals doesn’t sound bad, this move is indicative of a major push by the WEF towards globalization and the potential establishment of a global tax body dictating domestic tax policy to sovereign nations around the world.
Indeed, the WEF has stated as much as part of its broader New Global Tax Agenda, which the organization seeks to have adopted by countries around the world.
During a discussion between WEF members on the global corporate tax, when asked whether this could lead to other international taxes being adopted, members agreed that the next step would be working on the establishment of a global carbon tax.
