It may not concern others quite as much as it does me that ad revenue dried up for newspapers because with all the traffic Facebook was soaking up from the traffic it got from sharing news articles on their platform (especially when they add in algorithmic creepiness targeting). Not everyone is journalism adjacent and likes getting paid for their work.
It may not concern others quite as much as it does me that they added insult to injury by making it so we can't post news on Facebook here in Canada. Not everyone makes a good half of their posts around news articles.
But it should bother all of us that the tech giants raking in billions of revenue are able to squirrel out of an obligation to pay reparations to Canadian media.
And you can blame our dear Mr Carney who made it one of his first acts as Prime Minister to just let the tech bastards off scot-free seconds away from them finally paying up. Nothing changed but there was no money.
So, when Tax Fairness offered a letter, I shook a little KB spice on it and sent it off. You can too, even though you don't care as much as me.
Dear Finance Minister
It still burns me that the first thing Carney did as PM was cancel the digital services tax, just moments before it would finally be paid out, after years of news being blocked on Meta platforms.
Our government, working for our best interests — not Donald Trump, not some of the world's largest technology corporations — must make Canada's economic and tax policies.
The Digital Services Tax was an important step toward making multinational digital companies pay their fair share for the money they make off Canadians. It imposed a modest 3% tax on certain digital-services revenue earned from Canadian users and was expected to raise $7.2 billion over five years.
Last summer, your government chose to rescind the DST in an effort to advance trade negotiations with the United States. But giving up Canada's right to tax digital giants did not resolve the broader conflict with the Trump administration.
Canada should not give away our ability to make our own economic policy -- not for anything and certainly not in exchange for promises from a grifter, a liar and a man who changes his mind like a three year old girl changes her clothes.
American technology companies do billions of dollars of business with Canadians. They should contribute their fair share to the country where they operate and earn revenue.
At a time when Canadians are being asked to stand up for our sovereignty, economic independence must be part of that conversation. We cannot defend Canadian sovereignty while allowing the United States to dictate which companies Canada can tax.
Canada is not for sale.
We call on you to reinstate the Digital Services Tax and stand up for Canada's right to make its own tax policy.
Canada makes Canadian policy — not Donald Trump, and not Silicon Valley.
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