In partnership with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the GNCC has asked that the Government of Canada not revoke the tax-free status of employer-provided health benefits. To do so will result in an imposed cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars per year on employees, and fewer employers willing or able to offer benefits.

Many lower-income and middle-class Canadians would lose their health benefits. Families would have to do without dental or vision care, prescription drugs, mental health services, and more. We know this will happen because this was tried in Quebec – and that’s exactly what happened there.

Finance Canada believes that they could raise $2.9 billion in revenue by taxing these benefits. However, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimates that this tax would result in the loss of $32.2 billion in health care benefits for Canadians.

The GNCC has asked the finance minister and our local Members of Parliament not to consider this tax. It would hurt lower-income and middle-class Canadian families and strip them of the healthcare benefits they need. Our partners at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce are leading a national effort to oppose this idea.

Simplifying the tax code, bringing more fairness to Canadians, and growing the middle class are all great goals – but this tax will do none of these things. In fact, it will do the opposite. Canadians need their health benefits. Employers who offer them should be encouraged, not punished.