Pipelines face delays or are not built at all. Governments are adding greenhouse gas emissions prices. Provinces have introduced higher corporate income taxes. Property and other municipal taxes on energy producers have also been on the rise. Taken together, what are the costs of these recent...

Special supports for small businesses are a hallmark of both federal and provincial tax policy. There are two major federal programs: the Small Business Deduction (SBD), which provides small business a special lower income tax rate, and the enhanced Scientific Research and Experimental...

Canada’s charities are increasingly looking at ways to finance their non-profit activities through business income – in areas directly related to their charitable missions, and in areas that are not. Current legislation limits public foundations and charitable organizations to operating...

When provinces raise royalties charged on oil and gas production, the result can be less, not more tax revenues. The authors show how resource-rich provinces would be better off relying more on auctions for exploration and development rights and relying less on royalties levied on output. Oil...

Cities save money through competitive tendering of waste services contracts. This study finds municipalities that have their waste services provided through contracted operations have substantially lower average costs per household than municipalities with few of their services provided through...

There is a growing consensus that if serious action is to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, a price must be applied to emissions. But how would Canada’s climate policy coexist with the rest of the world? And how would domestic industry be affected?

The federal government should ensure that Canada’s air transportation industry is taxed on a level playing field with other modes of travel, such as bus or rail, and with its international counterparts. The result would be a more internationally competitive airline sector, able to serve...

The Toronto Land Transfer Tax, implemented nearly a year ago, has had significant negative effects on the housing market, reducing sales and lowering average house prices.

In nearly all Canada’s major municipalities, what should be a simple exercise – comparing the spending city council votes in its annual budget with the actual spending reported at year-end – will baffle any but the most expert reader. While most of Canada’s federal and provincial...

Federal government policies are a major cause of high costs throughout the aviation supply chain, often leading Canadians to waste time and money by seeking lower fares at nearby US airports, or not travel at all. High fuel taxes and onerous foreign ownership and airline-specific policies are...