My essay writing assignments in grade faculty have been typically handed again with poor grades. “You missed the core concepts, Kim. You have to discover the subject from all essential angles. Attempt once more.” My lecturers have been proper after I was sincere with myself.
Studying Canada’s new artificial intelligence strategy introduced again these recollections. My lecturers’ voices have been loud and clear.
Merriam-Webster defines technique as “a cautious plan or methodology for attaining a selected aim often over a protracted time frame.” Canada completely wants a method to win the AI race. Funding in AI can create jobs, drive effectivity and productiveness, spawn new technologies and help total financial development.
The downsides — labour market disruption, security considerations, over-reliance by youth — are actual, too. A real technique would severely grapple with each side.
Sadly, all we bought was 50 pages of fluff. As an alternative of specializing in essential financial issues corresponding to taxes, the doc is dedicated to defending Canadians from AI, Indigenous information governance (no matter that’s), range, fairness and inclusion in AI improvement and on-line security for youngsters.
A few of these could also be worthy considerations, however a authorities that leads with management reasonably than competitiveness has already revealed its priorities.
Obviously lacking is how the founders, engineers and buyers who will construct Canada’s AI future might be inspired to take the required steps and dangers.
Tax policy is among the strongest levers any authorities makes use of to form financial behaviour. It drives funding selections, determines the place expertise chooses to reside and construct and indicators to everybody whether or not a rustic is critical about competing.
The strategy doesn’t comprise any corporate tax commentary — not even patent field proposals regardless of two years of consultations and a Liberal 2025 election platform promise — private tax proposals or capital positive factors concepts.
The only real tax gesture within the technique doc is that by “Funds 2026, the Division of Finance will work with consultants to discover mechanisms that encourage Canadians to reinvest positive factors earned from profitable tech firms into new Canadian AI startups .”
Who will these consultants be? Why solely Canadian AI startups? AI impacts all companies, not simply startups.
Take a look at what Canada’s opponents are doing. The USA in July 2025 completely restored full expensing of home R&D, reinstated 100 per cent bonus depreciation on qualifying capital funding together with AI infrastructure and expanded the certified small enterprise inventory exclusion to US$15 million. The efficient tax price of AI funding dramatically dropped.
The UK applies a ten per cent company tax fee on earnings from patented mental property by its Patent Field regime, in comparison with a regular fee of 25 per cent. 13 European Union members have comparable regimes. And Estonia — ranked first on the Tax Basis’s Worldwide Tax Competitiveness Index for 12 consecutive years — taxes company revenue solely when distributed, not when reinvested.
All these concepts are worthy of consideration.
As an alternative, Canada’s aggressive place on tax is poor. Our mixed federal-provincial company fee of 23 per cent to 27 per cent, relying on the province, is broadly corresponding to high-tax U.S. states, however meaningfully larger than the 21 per cent accessible in zero-tax jurisdictions corresponding to Texas and Washington, among the many fastest-growing AI employment hubs in North America.
It’s additionally far above Eire’s 12.5 per cent, which is why a lot tech IP finally ends up there. A promised Canadian patent field was absent from the final budget , the spring financial replace and the AI technique.
The image is equally regarding on the private facet.
Canada’s prime mixed federal-provincial marginal fee reaches 53.53 per cent in Ontario and is analogous in lots of different provinces, with the federal prime fee of 33 per cent kicking in at $258,482. The equal prime fee within the U.S. doesn’t apply till revenue exceeds US$768,700 for a married couple.
For the expertise Canada wants most — folks incomes $300,000 to $600,000 in a sector the place that compensation is routine — our tax system is a billboard that reads, “Go away. Or keep away.”
The founder’s exit math compounds the issue. Canada’s lifetime capital positive factors exemption (LCGE) for qualifying small enterprise shares stands at virtually $1.3 million in 2026, whereas the U.S. exclusion reaches US$15 million. That 11-fold hole shapes the place founders incorporate, the place firms scale and whether or not Canada captures any of the wealth its researchers create.
As an additional instance, if the federal government is ready to make a $10-million capital positive factors exemption everlasting for worker possession belief transfers — a regime that’s structurally ineffective — then the present exemption is solely not a critical quantity for founders within the AI period.
Absorbing the fiscal price of a gesture virtually no entrepreneur will ever use whereas refusing to maneuver the one lever virtually each entrepreneur can plan for just isn’t a tax coverage judgment, it’s a political one.
The general tax instruments Canada wants to help in attaining the AI race embrace a decrease common company fee, which might make the patent field concept moot if it have been a significant discount, vital reductions in prime private charges, capital positive factors deferral alternatives, an LCGE expanded to not less than $5 million, ideally matching the US$15-million exemption within the U.S., and overall comprehensive tax review and reform .
Canada’s AI technique is lengthy on phrases, security frameworks and session, and so clearly designed to realize political targets reasonably than financial ones.
My grade faculty lecturers had a easy customary: did you discover the subject from all essential angles and produce logical feedback, alternate options and options to the problem at hand? If I had submitted this AI technique for grading, my lecturers would have advised me to return to the definition of technique and check out once more reasonably than produce a political brochure.
In addition they would have given me a glowing grade of D minus.
Kim Moody, FCPA, FCA, TEP, is the founding father of Moodys Tax/Moodys Personal Shopper, a former chair of the Canadian Tax Basis, former chair of the Society of Property Practitioners (Canada) and has held many different management positions within the Canadian tax neighborhood. He might be reached at kgcm@kimgcmoody.com and his LinkedIn profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimgcmoody.
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