Imagine Canada Becoming a Tax Haven for Americans

Democrats are eyeing the presidency with an abundance of candidates for the next election, and if they are successful, it appears that the well-off will be paying more in taxes. Though the type of taxes that will be increased is not yet settled, the idea is getting wide-spread approval across the country among the nation’s other income brackets.

Avoidance efforts are sure to increase, and the possibility of the most invasive method may seem more and more promising – leaving the country. France had a tax similar to the proposed tax by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but even more extreme. While Ocasio-Cortez wants to place a 70% tax rate on those that make more than $10 million a year, France imposed a “supertax” of 75% rate for citizens making more than 1 million euros per year. The tax only lasted for two years, and during that time many prominent, wealthy individuals moved to Belgium, and French corporations did not attract senior managers.

The potential tax increase in America may not produce a similar exodus of millionaires, because quite simply, America is not France. We have many important epicenters of the technology industry, the finance industry and others. And unlike Europe, there is not an abundance of thriving countries nearby. If the wealthy do decide to leave, their only option may be Canada, where the majority of the population speaks English and the top income rate is 33%: despite some Americans thinking Canada is a quasi-socialist economy thanks to its single-payer health-care system, it’s not actually a high-tax country.

See Noah Smith, Imagine Canada Becoming a Tax Haven for Americans, Financial Advisor, February 13, 2019.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.