Scott Semer Says Challenges for Canada in Wake of U.S. Tax Reform

New York-based tax partner Scott Semer has weighed in on the discussion around the new U.S. tax reform agreeing that the changes present a number of challenges for Canada.

Scott told Law Times the reduction of the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% will “push a lot of governments to consider lowering their tax rates or certainly not to raise them.”

“It’s almost a 50% rate cut. That’s a pretty big cut,” Scott said.

The article also discusses the new tax base erosion provisions which Scott says is a move “designed in part to encourage people to do more stuff in the United States and protect the U.S. tax base.”

Scott continued, saying there is “a lot of interest from investors who think it is going to be a pretty good time to invest in the U.S. as opposed to outbound."

“The big takeaway to watch for is does the U.S. become a more attractive place to headquarter international business and does the U.S. become a more attractive place for investors than Canada and other jurisdictions because of the lower tax burden?” he said.

You can read more about Torys’ tax work by heading to the practice page.

Scott and a team of lawyers also penned “U.S. Tax Reform: Key Changes for Corporate and Individuals,” which forms a part of the current edition of the Torys Quarterly.

The team has written more on this topic, including the bulletin from January this year titled “U.S. Tax Reform Highlights for Private Equity and M&A.”