Ex-Quebec Premier: Developer Tax Credits Helped Shape Economy

Former Quebec Premier Bernard Landry has dubbed tax credits implemented for multimedia development companies in the Canadian province as an enormous success, reports The Montreal Gazette.

Landry (pictured left), speaking at the Montreal International Games Summit, claimed that the initiative also helped change Quebec’s economic makeup, stating, “Thirty years ago, our main exports were minerals, hydro-electricity and lumber. Today, we export airplanes, train parts, and video game.”

Of course Landry is also credited as introducing the tax scheme, which currently refunds qualified companies up to 37.5 percent of labor costs. Landry claimed that the cost of the program to taxpayers was earned back in five years.

He added:

Textile imports from China killed our textile industry. But (textile workers) were making $12 an hour. Video game developers make on average $60,000, and give back to the economy in the form on income taxes.