Finance Minister Bill Morneau released the Federal Government’s 2019 Federal Budget on Tuesday March 19. There are no proposed changes to tax rates, but the Budget does propose a new Canada Training Credit, tax credits for news organizations and news subscribers, and additional funds for money laundering investigations and Canada Revenue Agency auditors. The Budget also provides some general information (but few specifics) about potential changes to limit the favourable tax treatment of some employee stock option benefits to employees and align the tax treatment of stock options more closely with the method of stock option taxation used in the United States.
Nonetheless, says Morneau, more needs to be done to ensure Canadians’ prosperity over the coming years. For the most part, that means adding tax credits and other incentives and enhancing existing ones, giving the Canada Revenue Agency more resources to recover unpaid taxes and to help businesses comply, measures to reduce tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, improving retirement and disability savings plans, and introducing the framework for a national prescription drug plan.
