Federal government tax expenditures such as the Public Transit Tax Credit and the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit, with a combined cost of $164 million, are not meeting their targets, and should be eliminated.
Peter Shawn Taylor
Media Release – Harper’s Boutique: Rethinking Tax Expenditures in a Time of Deficit
This backgrounder scrutinizes two specific federal government tax expenditures (the Public Transit Tax Credit and the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit), and finds that at a combined cost of $164 million they are not meeting their targets, and calls for their elimination.
Harper’s Tax Boutique: Rethinking Tax Expenditures in a Time of Deficit
This backgrounder scrutinizes two specific federal government tax expenditures (the Public Transit Tax Credit and the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit), and finds that at a combined cost of $164 million they are not meeting their targets, and calls for their elimination.
To the Scrap Heap: Manitoba’s insurance monopoly destroys cheap cars and hurts the poor
Manitoba’s Public Insurance’s arbitrary policy to destroy cheap used cars made before 1995 has dire unintended consequences for unemployed poor looking for jobs, and for the environment that the policy claims to protect.
Featured News
Weaponizing the Law
The indictment of former U.S. president Donald Trump for crimes invented by his political opponents is the most egregious example yet seen of the weaponizing of the law. The United States is now full of examples. However, in Canada, we also see the law being...
“Looking At” Seizing Control Over Western Canada’s Natural Resources
OTTAWA, REGINA - Last week, two things happened that could have profound impacts on natural resources development in Saskatchewan. One is a hint the federal government might want to take control of natural resources away from the provinces, and the other is the...
Calgary’s Living Wage Boondoggle
Calgary could soon be the first city in Canada to adopt a living wage. But the proposed policy will not help a single person in poverty and could do substantial damage to the local labour market.
“Living Wage” Promises Small Benefits at a High Cost
Calgary recently implemented a “living wage” policy though applied it to no one for now, probably because many of the potential beneficiaries of a living wage may not be in poverty to begin with.
Why a Living Wage Doesn’t Kill Poverty
Calgary is on the verge of becoming the first city in Canada to implement a living wage. While the initial costs of a living wage may appear small, the policy can have a significant impact on business profits, may lead to labour market distortions and appears poorly targeted. Many of the potential beneficiaries of a living wage may not be in poverty to begin with.
Living Wage Promises Small Benefits at a High Cost
Everyone loves to get something for nothing. That’s the reason the living wage has swept across much of the urban United States and is now getting a hearing in Calgary. Depending on an upcoming city vote, Calgary could soon be the first city in Canada to adopt this...
Vouchers Look Pretty in Pink
You may have missed the release of the federal Liberal’s Pink Book II last week. Certainly the Liberal Women’s Caucus new women’s platform was overshadowed by other female issues, such as the bizarre allegation that Tory MP James Moore was ogling lingerie models in...
Poverty Down, Taxes Down, Outrage Up
Never having seen the headquarters of the stridently leftwing and perpetually upset Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, it’s diverting to wonder what it might be like. My own view is that it looks something like the inside of a Second World War Japanese submarine...