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Tax the super-rich, says NDP’s leadership hopeful

Brian Topp sees winning card in tax hikes for the wealthy

The perceived frontrunner in the NDP leadership race, Brian Topp, is promising to open the door to a conversation many politicians have shied away from in recent years: hiking up taxes for the rich. Speaking with the Canadian Press, Topp said he wants to discuss raising the income tax levels of Canada’s wealthiest people. “I think it’s time for our party to step up to that plate and to be pretty clear about that because then we’ll have a mandate to act if we’re elected,” Topp said. A future hike in the sales tax and the corporate tax rate would also be an option once the economy is more stable, he added. As the Globe and Mail notes, since the Reform movement emerged from Western Canada in the early 1990s and became the backbone of today’s Conservative party, talk of tax hikes—whether only for the rich or otherwise–has become taboo in the nation’s public debate. It remains to be seen whether other contenders for the NDP’s top job will follow Topp’s lead.

The Globe and Mail

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