Experts weigh in on why a tax for unvaccinated individuals won't be coming to Ontario
CTV
Toronto health and law experts say that imposing a tax on the unvaccinated sets a “very dangerous precedent,” echoing recent remarks made by Ontario’s top doctor and the premier who stated that Ontario shouldn’t head down that path.
Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer of health, put any rumours of a tax on unvaccinated individuals to rest at a news conference on Wednesday, calling the measure “punitive.”
While Quebec announced plans to introduce a financial penalty in the coming weeks for those refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, experts in Ontario have called the measure a “slippery slope.”
“This runs counter to our core commitment to provide health care on the basis of need, and not on the basis of people's individual risk status,” Trudo Lemmens, Scholl chair of health law and policy at the University of Toronto, told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.
“If we start imposing taxes for being unvaccinated, will we start taxing people directly for other things?” Trudo asked, pointing to penalizing an individual for not taking their medication as an example.
