By the end of the 2012-13 fiscal year, and assuming there are no further tax cuts in the upcoming federal budget, the Harper Conservatives will have reduced the cost of government by $220 billion, according to the Toronto Star. Canadian corporations have pocketed $60 billion in savings. Over the same period, Ottawa has run up a cumulative $169-billion deficit.
Taxation
Control Taxes by Counting Pennies
The City of Kelowna has the most transparent taxation process in Canada, according to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Welcome to 2012: All Debt, All the Time
Another year older and deeper in debt. You can Google “Canada’s debt clock” for a precise reckoning. Maintained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, this clock now ticks off another $1,000 in federal debt every second or, more precisely, $61,454 every minute.
Why Canada’s Corporate Tax Cuts Rate a Collective Cheer
In an end-of-year review of his government’s achievements in 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted Forbes magazine’s selection of Canada as the No. 1 country in the world to do business. (“Credit a reformed tax structure,” Forbes declared.) Mr. Harper was right to cite this distinction. On New Year’s Day, Canada’s corporate tax rate – federal and provincial rates combined – fell to 25 per cent, giving Canada the lowest rate in the Group of Seven countries, and a more competitive economy on a global basis.
Featured News
What Exactly Does ‘Climate Justice’ Mean?
It seems like everything is about justice these days. Recently, as I drove home from the store, I saw a sign for the elections here in New York from the local Democratic Party, promising “equity, equality, and justice for all.” Beyond the obvious concerns any sane...
We are Finding the 2800 Missing Children
The “secret graves” and “missing children” narrative had our national flag flying at half-mast for over five months after an obscure indigenous politician made the startling claim that she “knew” that 215 indigenous children had been secretly buried in the “apple...
Say Hello to the 1980s Deficits in Modern Drag
The Alberta government risks replaying the 1980s and the chronic deficits. In a look at budget numbers and comments from Alberta’s top politicians from that decade, the parallels keep on coming.
’80s-Era Crisis Feared In Alberta; Premier Rejects Warning In U of C Report
The Stelmach government is stuck in the same financial quicksand as the 1980s Getty era and is facing similar
$11.2 billion in 2009
Whether one uses 1996 or 2001 as the baseline from which to measure Alberta’s program spending, the result is that Alberta has consistently spent far more than inflation and population growth would justify.
$11.2 billion in 2009: The cost of Alberta’s extra spending above inflation and above population growth
Whether one uses 1996 or 2001 as the baseline from which to measure Alberta’s program spending, the result is that Alberta has consistently spent far more than inflation and population growth would justify.
New Brunswick Gets Economic Stimulus Right
Frontier Research Director Mark Milke notes how New Brunswick is responding to the recession with smart policy: by collapsing the number of personal income tax brackets and dropping its business taxes.
Winnipeg’s Low Property Taxes and Municipal Revenue
Winnipeg has surprisingly low taxes, user fees, higher government grants and overall revenue compared to other major Prairie cities. FC048
You Can’t Spend Your Way Out of the Crisis
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is returning his country to a formula for prosperity that’s worked in the past. As in Britain, the U.S. and Australia in the 1980s, New Zealand’s government implemented a wide-ranging program of economic liberalization, including deep reductions in tariffs and subsidies, and privatization of state-run industries.
Leaders Go Left, But Economists Get Back To Basics
The conventional view at Davos is that a previous consensus in favor of free enterprise has taken a huge beating from the Great Crash of 2008-2009. What is much less known is that many economists are not willing to play along. Instead, the crisis seems to have scared many economists of all kinds–including some previously heterodox–to reassert the orthodox recommendations of Econ 101.
The Panic of 2007-2008: Not the Market’s Fault
Presentation to the Institute of Liberal Studies by Professor George Braques,
University of Guelph-humber, Student Seminar, November 23, 2008.