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...

What impact do the tax systems of Canada’s Western provinces have on families’take-home pay and seniors’ pension income, and how does it compare to other provinces? This report answers the question by looking at marginal effective tax rates (METRs) on personal income, which measure the...

Spending restraint is key to achieving a balanced federal budget over the next five years and should form part of Ottawa’s March Budget. This Backgrounder demonstrates how to limit the rise in the federal debt by prudently reining in spending growth rather than raising taxes, so that past and...

More than a decade after Quebec and the federal government implemented significant personal income tax rate reductions, what has happened to Quebecers’ take-home pay? This paper answers the question by looking at marginal effective tax rates (METRs) on personal income, which measure the impact...

The 2011 Canadian federal budget, should it succeed in Parliament, would launch a new strategic spending review, alongside minor cost-cutting initiatives. The fate of the budget balance and the potential for an early return to surplus as envisioned, therefore, depend entirely on the...

The marginal effective tax rate (METR) on personal income, explain the authors, measures the impact, on take-home pay, of federal and provincial income taxes combined with the impact of reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits as individual or family income rises. These...