National Post

Should Ottawa tax health benefits? Depends how they do it

By January 24, 2017March 18th, 2020No Comments

Canada has too many tax credits that light up the tax code like a Christmas tree. Lots of them should be scrapped and the Liberals, to their credit(!), have said that they’ll give all of them a very careful look and scrap unwarranted ones. One that has been quietly signalled as particularly under review is the credit for employer-provided health benefits. As my colleagues Sean Speer and I wrote in an op-ed for the Financial Post, Ottawa should proceed with its reported plans to tax such employer-provided health and dental insurance – but only if the revenue is used to make private insurance more affordable for everyone who wants to use it and not just some, as is currently the case.