Published Apr 17, 2024 • Last updated 5 minutes ago • 1 minute read
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Shopify Inc. headquarters signage is seen in Ottawa, May 3, 2022. Shopify Inc. is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company.Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / Files /THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Top leaders at Canadian e-commerce company Shopify have ripped the federal government’s plan to increase the capital gains tax rate, arguing it will have an anti-innovation effect.
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On Tuesday, the governing Liberals announced in the 2024 federal budget that the rate on capital gains would increase from 50% to 66% for people making $250,000 or more, as well as all corporations and trusts.
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The increase is to help pay for the government’s new policy initiatives toward building more housing for younger people shut out of home ownership.
However, that increase — while only affecting 0.13% of Canadians — would stifle innovation and investments in Canada by people with the means to do so, Shopify’s leaders argue.
“Message from a friend: ‘Canada has heard rumours about innovation and is determined to … leave no stone unturned in deterring it’,” was the sarcastic response on social media site X from Tobias Lutke, Spotify CEO, on Tuesday.
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Message from a friend: “Canada has heard rumors about innovation and is determined to will leave no stone unturned in deterring it” https://t.co/NTC11B6kMu
— tobi lutke (@tobi) April 16, 2024
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“What. Are. We. Doing. (Canada)?!?” added Harley Finkelstein, the company’s president, shortly after the budget was announced in the House of Commons.
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On Wednesday, Finkelstein warned that the government’s policies will be a failure in Canada and represents a golden opportunity for investors south of the border.
“We need to be doing everything we can to turn Canada into the best place for entrepreneurs to build (Canada),” Finkelstein wrote.
We need to be doing everything we can to turn Canada into the best place for entrepreneurs to build 🇨🇦
What’s proposed in the federal budget will do the complete opposite. Innovators and entrepreneurs will suffer and their success will be penalized — this is not a wealth tax,…
— Harley Finkelstein (@harleyf) April 17, 2024
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“What’s proposed in the federal budget will do the complete opposite. Innovators and entrepreneurs will suffer and their success will be penalized — this is not a wealth tax, it’s a tax on innovation and risk taking.
“Our policy failures are America’s gains. At a time when our country is facing critically low productivity and business investment our political leaders are failing our country’s entrepreneurs.”
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