July 3 2025

Many countries have tax systems that allow the billionaire class to accumulate obscene amounts of wealth, while services low and middle-income people need are cut. Sadly, Canada is among the countries where pandering to the very wealthy is costing working people dearly.

Extreme over-consumption a product of the wealthy not paying their share

The kind of over-consumption that we saw at Jeff Bezos’s recent wedding is a direct product of tax breaks for the wealthy. A combination of income tax rate cuts, loopholes, and a failure to crack down on tax dodging have left the very wealthy with more money than they know what to do with.

Letting the very wealthy dodge taxes harms public services and the climate

The damage done by underfunding to health care and other public services is well documented. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Money is there to provide decent public services – if Canada and other countries are willing to make tax fairness a priority.

Over-consumption by billionaires is also bad for the planet. Between their private jets, space junkets, super yachts, mansions and investments, the carbon emissions billionaires produce undermine the work being done to curb climate change. Research from 2023 found that 12 billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, produce “almost 17m tonnes of CO2 and equivalent greenhouse gas emissions annually.”

Canada gives Bezos an expensive wedding present

Instead of looking for ways to make the tax system fairer, the Canadian government gave Jeff Bezos an expensive wedding present by cancelling the digital services tax (DST). This will cost Canadians at least $3 billion a year. The DST was a small step towards making the tax system fairer by making huge multinational corporations like Amazon or Meta pay at least some tax on their earnings in Canada.

Our future depends on getting billionaires to pay their share and reducing inequality

While dumping the DST may help Canada temporarily avoid unfair US tariffs (the Trump administration pushed Canada to get rid of the DST, choosing to side with corporations rather than follow Canada’s lead), this approach is not sustainable. Our politicians need to stand up to the billionaire class, whose unchecked greed will just have them coming back for more and more and more.

If we are going to protect things like Medicare, which help define who we are as Canadians, we can’t afford to be giving billionaires a blank check. That means tax fairness must continue to be a priority. It means building a robust economy, so that we can resist the economic blackmail of the billionaire class and their stooges.