Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the federal government to pause its digital services tax, saying the levy jeopardizes the Canada-United States relationship and could have a detrimental effect on trade.
The digital services tax (DST)—which requires foreign tech giants to pay a 3 percent levy on revenues made from their operations in Canada—“is putting Canadian jobs at risk,” the premier said in a Nov. 4 statement.
The DST was implemented on June 28 following an order in council by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Google has implemented a 2.5 percent surcharge for ads displayed in Canada in response to the levy.
Ontario’s fall economic statement, released last week, urged Ottawa to reconsider the levy, saying it would “increase the tax burden on many Ontario businesses” and have a “negative impact on a mutually beneficial trading relationship” with the United States….