Quebec wants to tax people unvaccinated against COVID-19. Can the province do that?

Legal experts say provinces have a constitutional authority to levy direct taxes in order to pay for services like health care, and that constitutional challenges will likely fail.

Quebec’s plan to impose a tax on adults who choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 is already being called “constitutionally vulnerable” by critics — but experts say the province is well within its rights, and challenges are likely to fail.

Details about the proposed tax are slim, but Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday the penalty would be “significant.” Those with a medical exemption would be exempt from the tax.

Legal experts say provinces have a constitutional authority to levy direct taxes in order to pay for services like health care, and that it makes sense from a fairness perspective to force those who pose the most burden on the health care system to pay more for it.

“They’re not taking away people’s freedom, they’re just requiring people to pay a price if they pose a risk,” said David Duff, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

“If the health care system were financed through private insurance, which is priced on the basis of risk, one would expect to see higher premiums for the unvaccinated. This is a demonstrable risk.”

The tax is being proposed as Quebec faces an unprecedented strain on its health care system due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which is sending more people to hospital than at any other point during the pandemic.

More than 2,700 people were in hospital with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, including 255 patients in intensive care. Another 62 deaths were also reported Tuesday alone.

Legault noted that half of those in intensive care are unvaccinated — even though that group comprises 10 per cent of the adult population.