The decade-old right of Quebec doctors to incorporate is being called into question by opposition politicians. And the issue is being raised on the eve of next week’s federal budget, in which the Liberals may introduce changes to the tax benefits of professional corporations across Canada.
Last week, all three opposition parties in Quebec called for a public debate over the impact that the incorporation of doctors and dentists was having on the public purse. According to these parties, the income tax savings generated by the estimated 10,000 Quebec physicians (roughly half of all doctors in the province) who have become incorporated since 2001 deprives the state of $150 million a year.
In his Medical Post piece, Mark Cardwell describes this as “mean-spirited politics” and “sectarianism,” adding that it’s “a disgrace to propose it.”
