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The New Democratic Party proposes to increase Canada’s corporate tax rate by fewer than 2.5 percentage points, while backtracking on a call to raise taxes on capital gains, according to a party official.

The NDP plans to raise Canada’s corporate tax rate to “less than 17.5 per cent,” from 15 per cent, the official said. The increase will be included in a document released Wednesday detailing how the party will finance its campaign promises. Based on current corporate tax revenue, the new rate could add as much as $5 billion to company costs as Canada’s economy emerges from six months of contraction.

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The move comes as the NDP — which polls show is the top threat to unseat Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Oct. 19 election — moderates its socialist roots under Leader Tom Mulcair. The party also hopes to blunt criticism that its pledges for both new social spending and a balanced budget, made in a bid to form government for the first time, aren’t achievable.