We need to scrap corporate welfare in order to restore Canada’s business tax advantage over the U.S.
It’s been more than two months since federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he would study Canada’s crumbling business tax advantage – while cautioning against any “impulsive” measures in response to tax changes south of the border that overnight wiped away a decade-plus business tax advantage over the United States. Yet, despite a chorus of…
Such a program would weaken the incentives to work for lower-income Canadians and people not strongly tied to the labour force
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Almost 50 years ago, a Canadian Senate report declared that a basic income “is an idea whose time has come.” Ever since, the idea resurfaces every so often, with support that spans the political spectrum. Most recently, a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report reinvigorated the debate…
CPP expansion could result in a reduction in domestic investment up to $114 billion from 2019 to 2030
By Charles Lammam and Taylor Jackson The Fraser Institute Canada has a growing investment problem. Business investment (excluding residential structures like houses and condos) has dropped nearly 20 per cent since 2014. The level of business investment (as a share of the economy) in Canada is now second lowest among 17 advanced countries. Meanwhile, foreign…
Canadians receive meagre rates of return on CPP contributions and the program has other key shortcomings
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Misperceptions plague the public’s view of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), despite efforts to provide some clarity. Mark Machin, chief executive officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – the organization tasked with investing CPP contributions – recently hit the road in a cross-country…
The 2016 CPP reforms were solutions in search of a problem – and don’t even solve the imagined problem
By Jason Clemens and Charles Lammam The Fraser Institute The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) needs a comprehensive review, followed by real reform. The provincial and federal finance ministers said recently they will re-examine certain aspects of the CPP reforms agreed to in late 2016. But they will avoid a larger re-evaluation of the efficacy of an expanded CPP. Clearly,…
The advantage this country once had over the United States has been spun on its head. And that means investment will start heading south in droves
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau once famously quipped that living next to the United States “is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant.” By this he meant that developments in the U.S. often have an outsized effect on Canada. Canadians, like it or not, must always be…
As tax complexity grows, so do tax compliance costs. Canadians spend nearly $7 billion complying with the personal income tax system each year
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Canada’s personal income tax system is complicated and the nuances are often cryptic. So citizens routinely rely on Canada Revenue Agency staff to help them navigate the system. Turns out, the system is often too complicated even for CRA officials to understand. A recent report by Canada’s auditor…
Not only does the top one per cent pay a disproportionate share of Canada’s taxes, its share has increased over the past two decades
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute For months, the Trudeau government has used the term “tax fairness” to justify higher taxes on entrepreneurs and incorporated professionals. While what’s a fair distribution of taxes is never defined by the government, such rhetoric fuels the misperception that Canada’s top earners collectively get away with paying very…
A tax cut rewards families who work hard. Increased transfers make them more reliant on government
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has repeatedly said it wants to help families “working hard to join the middle class.” But has the government lived up to this rhetoric on personal income taxes, a key policy area where it’s been particularly active? Over their two years in government,…
After only two years in office, Trudeau’s legacy on federal debt is already becoming clear, and future generations of Canadians will pay for it
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Sometimes it takes years, if not decades, for a prime minister’s legacy to fully take shape. Other times it happens in much shorter order. Just two years into his first mandate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legacy on federal debt has taken form. And it’s not good. Trudeau is…