the changes will take effect after 2025, girard told reporters. they are designed to refocus tax assistance to the information technology sector on the highest value-added jobs while tightening tax assistance for visual effects and animation by tying it to labour expenditures, he said.
“these tax credits were created when the unemployment rate in quebec was 10 per cent. we are now at full employment,” girard said. revamping the tax credit system “was one of the recommendations made by the experts that we consulted.”
quebec is also scrapping an employer tax credit to encourage the retention of workers age 60 and over, which girard introduced in 2019.
“we evaluated it and after four years, it didn’t deliver what we wanted,” he said. “it’s very sparingly used. companies don’t need this tax incentive to hire people because there’s a labour shortage.”
other incentives, including a personal tax credit for working seniors, will remain.
much is expected of state-owned companies such as loto-québec, the société des alcools du québec and investissement québec – especially after lower-than-normal water levels forced hydro-québec last month to slash its annual dividend to the government by $1 billion.