A revenue-neutral tax swap would improve Alberta’s fiscal prospects, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “The 8 Percent Solution: A Sensible Tax Compromise for Albertans,” authors Colin Busby and Alexandre Laurin propose a change that would better equip...

Canadians should hold off on declaring a slowdown in government healthcare spending to sustainable growth rates, says a C.D. Howe Institute report released today. In “Bending Canada’s Healthcare Cost Curve: Watch Not What Governments Say, But What They Do,” author William B.P. Robson finds...

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s March 19 budget included important — and unexpected — proposals that would dramatically reshape income tax rules affecting foreign investment by Canadian corporations. The budget’s proposal to withdraw tax deductibility for interest expenses...

Saint John, Charlottetown and Montreal have the highest tax burdens on new business amongst major Canadian cities, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “The 2014 C.D. Howe Institute Business Tax Burden Ranking,” authors Adam Found, Benjamin Dachis and Peter Tomlinson conduct...

British Columbia is on the right track with its controversial move to a harmonized sales tax (HST), according to this report. The authors say the shift to a value-added tax mirrors patterns in most of the developed world, and helped move the province from being a high tax, investment-unfriendly...

Putting an end to Ontario’s archaic retail sales tax and adopting a value-added tax like the GST would sharply lower the effective tax rate on new business investment and offer the province a much-needed economic boost.

Business property taxes are a major part of the tax burden on new business investment that can tip the balance in the competition for capital among Canadian cities and provinces, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “What Gets Measured Gets Managed: The Economic...

(note: this report is in French) The Quebec Government's new tax plan - which would replace the across-the-board health contribution of $200 per taxpayer with large marginal tax increases on high-income earners as well as increased taxes on capital gains and dividends - may result in a...

Canadian provincial governments have broad authority to impose direct taxes by passing enabling legislation in their respective legislatures. Governments may also use regulation to set fees, for example, to recover the cost of services they provide, but cannot use regulation to impose taxes that...