Champagne Seeks Tax Overhaul as Nearly Half of Canadian Founders Moved to the U.S.
Updated
Updated · The Hub · Aug 20
Champagne Seeks Tax Overhaul as Nearly Half of Canadian Founders Moved to the U.S.
1 articles · Updated · The Hub · Aug 20
Summary
François-Philippe Champagne is soliciting tax-reform ideas ahead of the fall budget as the Carney government treats Canada’s founder flight to the U.S. as an urgent competitiveness problem.
By 2024, only about one-third of Canadian founders who had raised more than $1 million were still based in Canada, down from roughly three-quarters in 2016, with nearly half relocated to the U.S.
The proposed fixes center on capital gains, including a broad rollover for reinvested gains and a bigger Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption, now C$1.275 million versus a U.S. QSBS exclusion of up to $15 million per company.
Champagne is also being urged to cut Canada’s top personal tax rate from 53.5% in Ontario and trim the roughly 26% combined corporate rate, while adding full first-year expensing and removing targeted sector taxes.
The push argues piecemeal changes will not reverse weak productivity, sluggish investment and talent loss, making a fiscally funded, comprehensive package the key test for the coming budget.