1/13 🇨🇦 MILLIONAIRES BEGGING FOR TAX HIKES 🇨🇦 A group of wealthy Canadians is launching a "Patriotic Millionaires" chapter to lobby for higher taxes on themselves and other affluent citizens, arguing the current system unfairly burdens lower-income earners. #TaxReform #WealthGap #CanadianEconomy

2/13 "Every country should be taking a look at the way that they design their tax system to try to ensure greater fairness," says Claire Trottier, chair of the group's Canadian branch, who spoke exclusively to CBC News ahead of their official launch. #TaxFairness #WealthTax #CDNpoli

3/13 The lobby group—modelled after similar movements in the US and UK—claims lower-income Canadians pay tax on most earnings while the wealthy can leverage dividends, investments and capital gains to significantly alter their tax burden. #TaxSystem #Inequality #WealthTax

4/13 Their June launch will include research comparing G7 wealth taxes and an Ottawa event pushing Canada, as 2025's G7 host nation, to lead conversations about reassessing how wealthier citizens are taxed across member countries. #G7 #TaxPolicy #GlobalReform

5/13 BC's Avi Bryant, who made his fortune when Twitter bought his tech company in 2010, says higher taxes help maintain Canada as a desirable place to live and work: "Taxation and redistribution and good social services help a great deal with that." #TechSector #SocialServices #CDNpoli

6/13 The group's timing is strategic, with a newly elected Liberal government and soon-to-be-announced finance minister. They specifically want Ottawa to revisit increasing the capital gains tax—a policy Prime Minister Carney recently cancelled. #CapitalGains #TaxPolicy #Liberals

7/13 "Why is it that we're paying less taxes than the people who are actually working for a paycheck... your teachers, your nurses," questions member Sabina Vohra-Miller, who splits time between Toronto and California with her spouse, Shopify's former chief product officer. #TaxEquity #CDNpoli

9/13 South of the border, even President Trump has recently expressed openness to higher taxes on the wealthy—a position the Canadian group wasn't surprised by, claiming the ultra-rich often avoid income taxes through other means. #TrumpPolicy #UStaxes #WealthTax

10/13 UBC tax law expert David Duff suggests while tax increases on the wealthy may not generate "earth-shattering revenue," they can be symbolically important, and claims about dire economic consequences are "generally highly overblown." #TaxExperts #EconomicPolicy #WealthTax

11/13 The debate extends to philanthropy—with Ruffolo arguing wealthy Canadians should decide where their money goes: "If you feel so passionately about it, nothing stops you from giving it all the way, nothing. But I will decide who gets it and why." #Philanthropy #Charity #WealthGap

12/13 Trottier explains voluntary giving isn't sufficient: "It's just not enough to wait for people to make the proactive decision to give away their money," pointing to Statistics Canada data showing income inequality at its highest level since records began in 1999. #IncomeInequality #WealthGap