Each spring, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial legislatures vote budgets that set out their spending and revenue goals for the fiscal year. Budget votes are critical for holding governments accountable to legislators, and in turn to voters and taxpayers. Over the last decade,...

Canada’s governments have regularly missed budget spending and revenue targets during the last decade. Taken together, the spending overruns of federal, provincial and territorial governments have surpassed $53 billion in the last 10 years. If budget targets were met more accurately, current...

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...

Ontario faces a $19.7 billion unfunded liability at its Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) based on a fair-value accounting approach. In the report, the authors say the WSIB, which levies employer premiums intended to fund benefits for employees injured in the workplace, has a problem that...

Canadians can be proud of their country’s relatively strong recovery from the 2009 slump, but should not be complacent. Canada’s fiscal situation is strong only by comparison with the dire situations in other major advanced countries. Our national saving rate is too low to support needed...

Control over public money is fundamental to democratic government, and presents huge challenges to legislators and taxpayers. Getting the information needed to answer simple questions such as how planned spending in the upcoming year compares to actual results in the prior year can be hard, and...

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...

Working families with children in Canada face high tax hurdles that could dissuade them from earning extra income, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Treading Water: The Impact of High METRs on Working Families in Canada,” authors Alexandre Laurin and Finn...

(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...

The 2013 British Columbia budget proposes a temporary 2.1 percentage point tax-rate increase on individual taxpayers earning more than $150,000, and a permanent 1 percentage point hike in the corporate income tax rate. Individual and corporate taxpayers will adjust their behaviour in response to...