Canadian budget leads with digital tax and IT investments
By Josh Lowe on 20/04/2021
Canada’s new digital investments are designed to boost online public services and help businesses adapt to the digital world. Picture by Benoit Rochon
Canada has announced plans for a digital sector tax and new funds for civil service IT projects, publishing a federal budget containing a swathe of announcements on technology initiatives for the private and public sectors.
Headline policies in the budget, unveiled on Monday, include the levying of a Digital Services Tax targeting “services that rely on data and content contributions from Canadian users”; a C$88m (US$70m) boost for the Canadian Digital Service; the creation of a new data commissioner role; and C$42m (US$33m) to fund improvements to the Canada Revenue Agency’s online services.