By Anis Heydari | CBC News

A group of wealthy Canadians calling themselves “Patriotic Millionaires” is banding together to lobby governments to increase the amount of taxes they must pay, with a campaign patterned after similar movements in the United States and United Kingdom.

But there is already pushback on the concept — even before the group officially launches in Canada — with the opposing view being that higher taxes would drive entrepreneurship away from this country.

Speaking exclusively to CBC News in advance of the group’s Canadian launch, members of the Patriotic Millionaires say their organization is looking for broad changes to wealth taxes and capital gains in this country.

Head shot Claire Trottier in front of bookcase

The group says it believes lower-income citizens often pay tax on much of their income, while wealthier investors can leverage dividends, investments and capital gains to change what they pay and how.

“Patriotic Millionaires, which started in the U.S., rapidly realized that this is an international issue,” said Claire Trottier, chair of the Canadian branch, in addition to her work as a businesswoman, investor and philanthropist in Montreal.

“Every country should be taking a look at the way that they design their tax system to try to ensure greater fairness across the system.”

The organization said it’s initially focusing on changing how Canadians think about taxing the wealthy, but is working to release research in early June on how it believes different wealth taxes across G7 nations could change government revenues.

An event planned for that month in Ottawa will push the idea that as the 2025 host nation for the G7 summit, Canada can encourage other nations to re-assess how wealthier citizens are taxed.

Changing taxation policy by lobbying new members of Parliament and a soon-to-be-announced finance minister is also an explicit goal of the organization, said Patriotic Millionaires Canada executive director Dylan Dusseault.

The organization wants to enable wealthier Canadians to be part of an “organizing, and lobbying campaign to change the public narrative and the law around tax fairness,” said Dusseault.

Even Trump might support higher wealth taxes

Further south, U.S. President Donald Trump has recently said he was “OK” with raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to benefit people in middle- and lower-income brackets.

“I would love to do it, frankly,” he said in the Oval Office on Friday. He says he would be willing to pay more in taxes himself.

However, the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republicans have resisted the idea of raising taxes on the wealthy.

The president told Johnson this past week that he wanted to see a higher tax rate on incomes of $2.5 million for single filers, or $5 million for couples, only to sort of back off the idea on Friday. “Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do,” Trump wrote on social media.


Share with a friend

Related reading

Man and woman buy vegetables at the grocery store

Sellers’ inflation is back on the horizon. We can stop it before working people pay the price.

Trade-war chaos and confusion are creating a perfect storm for sellers' inflation—when companies with market control choose to hike prices to gouge consumers and grow their profits when they have the chance. As SCP Fellow Kaylie Tiessen writes, this profit-led inflation often hides behind other drivers and can blindside us if we’re not watching closely. There are good reasons to accept some tariff-related price increases—elbows up, right? But she outlines three ways we can stop opportunistic sellers from using this trade chaos to mask their profiteering. We can stop powerful companies from exploiting confusion and weak oversight so working people don't pay the price while profits soar.

Black image with white text: Founding CEO, Canadian Tax Observatory

New Canadian Tax Observatory seeks visionary founding CEO

Social Capital Partners and other funders announce a new, non-partisan, nonprofit Canadian organization to lead an informed national conversation on the links between taxation, economic fairness and a thriving democracy. The Canadian Tax Observatory is seeking a visionary leader who can shape and grow a permanent, influential Canadian institution connected to global networks identifying better, more effective ways to achieve tax fairness.

Sir Keir Starmer and Mark Carney converse in London

A new middle-power alliance would give Canada leverage and Canadians hope

Canada should lead the world’s middle powers in a collective and overdue weaning from American primacy by establishing a grand new security and economic alliance. As SCP Chair Jon Shell argues in The Hill Times, ten countries including Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K., Spain, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands, or the “Core 10," would amount to about the same GDP as the U.S., with significant natural resources, massive buying power - and significant leverage against American economic aggression.

Skip to content