Tax on employee discounts “cruel and unusual”: NDP

“This is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard of,” said NDP Finance Critic, Alexandre Boulerice, of the Liberal government’s move to tax employee discounts. “The Liberals refuse to crack down on tax havens or loopholes used by their wealthy friends and big corporations, but now they want to target these small benefits for employees? This is cruel and unusual.”

Over Thanksgiving weekend, the Liberal government unveiled new measures that would consider the discounts employees receive from their employer as taxable income. The largest beneficiaries of these employee discounts are retail workers who generally have low wages, little job security, and few other workplace benefits.

“The Liberals are making precarious work even more precarious, hurting those who can least afford it,” Mr. Boulerice said. “It’s likely that employers will simply eliminate employee discounts rather than deal with the added burden. This is a lose-lose plan that will result in a real cut to employee benefits with little to no savings.”

This attack on low-wage earners follows the Liberals refusal to support the NDP’s plan to raise the minimum wage for 100,000 federally regulated workers.