The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is planning to raise billions from banks and insurance companies by changing the tax rules for dividends they get from Canadian firms. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that in a measure billed as closing a loophole, Canada will begin treating dividends received by financial institutions from holding domestic shares as business income. It is expected to bring in $3.2-billion over five years, starting in 2024. Banks and other financial firms for years have used complex tax planning to effectively exclude these dividends from their income, lowering their overall tax burden. The new tax will apply to shares that are held as mark-to-market property -- not to dividends paid from one subsidiary to another. The change comes as the government faces a deteriorating fiscal outlook and slowing economy, while it ramps up spending to help residents cope with inflation, prop up the health-care system and compete with the U.S. on low-carbon initiatives. The government targeted the financial sector for new revenue after the federal debt ballooned to pay for income support and other programs in the COVID-19 pandemic.