This paper derives estimates of the revenue costs of lifetime capital gains exemptions. Since the exemptions provided a significant stimulus to realizations of capital gains for both shares and real estate, previously published 'tax expenditure' estimates overstate the revenue cost of these...

In this paper, we argue that much of the debate regarding the role of government policy in mitigating economic instability has failed to give sufficient attention to the role of capital markets. We argue that in an economy with well-functioning markets for risk-bearing, direct public...

A decade ago, several Canadian provinces replaced the retail sales taxes with value-added taxes. This paper estimates the effects of this tax substitution on consumer prices in the reforming provinces. Consistent with theory, we find that the resulting effective tax-rate changes were shifted...

The federal Equalization transfer program makes fiscal resources of "have-not" provinces depend on fiscal conditions in "have" provinces, which tends to destabilize provincial finances: the data show that equalized revenues of receiving provinces are more volatile than own-source revenues. But...

This paper assesses Ontario's fiscal climate in terms of how it impacts on the cost of doing business for multinational and entrepreneurial businesses. Unlike previous studies that only consider taxes, we include both taxes and expenditure subsidies to compare Ontario with five US states,...