Singh proposes corporate tax hike tied to CEO-worker pay gap

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pitched a plan Tuesday to increase corporate taxes based on the size of the gap between worker and CEO pay — but the legislation may run afoul of House of Commons rules on who can bring forward tax measures.

Singh said he was inspired by legislation United States Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders put forward in Congress two years ago.

"Right now, when we're experiencing unprecedented inflation, we're seeing people that are feeling squeezed. They can't afford their groceries, they can't afford their bills," Singh told a news conference Tuesday.

"At the very same time, the CEOs of the companies they work for are making more salary, making more compensation than they've ever made before."

The plan would raise the corporate income tax on a sliding scale, depending on the ratio between the pay of a company's CEO and the median pay of the company's workers. According to an NDP news release, the tax increase would be 0.5 per cent if a CEO makes 50 to 100 times the median income of workers, and would rise to a five per cent increase if a CEO makes a salary 500 times or more higher than the median income of workers.

House of Commons rules forbid private members' bills from making changes to taxation, with an exception for bills that create exemptions from new taxes or new tax increases.

"A private member's bill cannot impose, increase or extend the application of a tax," says the House of Commons guide on practice and procedure.

Singh did not say how he would get around the rule, adding he hasn't drafted the bill yet.

Singh has attacked grocery companies and executives repeatedly, saying that greed is responsible for a rise in food prices. Grocery chain representatives, including top executives, have told a House of Commons committee that higher supplier costs and other factors are responsible for the rising price of food, and that other products, such as pharmaceuticals and hygiene products, have a higher profit margin.

Loblaw president Galen Weston Jr. has been the most frequent target of Singh's criticism; the two traded barbs at a House of Commons committee meeting last month. Loblaw announced Tuesday that Weston will step down as president — a move that comes just weeks after news broke that he'd received a $3 million raise in 2022.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that food prices are up 9.7 per cent compared to last year. The overall inflation rate was 4.3 per cent.

Singh called on other parties to support his proposal.

"This is to decrease inequality. This is to force companies to stop the inequality that continues to grow," he said.

"This is a concrete way, a measure, that's going to lift up workers and tell companies a clear message that the inequality that exists in those companies is wrong, and that we're going to incentivize having less inequality."

The NDP's plan would increase the corporate income tax according to this scale:

• 0.5 per cent if CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio is between 50 and 100
• 1 per cent if CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio is between 100 and 200
• 2 per cent if CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio is between 200 and 300
• 3 per cent if CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio is between 300 and 400
• 4 per cent if CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio is between 400 and 500
• 5 per cent if CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio is 500 or more