With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, a concerning trajectory of federal spending has become clear. The economic rebound and higher inflation have boosted federal revenues, and the government is spending almost all the new money.While some new spending is arguably effective in...

As families earn more taxable income, government benefit entitlements are reduced (or “clawed back”) at various phase-out rates, which reduces their overall cost for governments and ensures that they remain targeted to the intended lower-income families. However, benefit reductions act like...

Inflation and taxation are a painful combination. Money losing its purchasing power hurts on its own, but tax provisions that ignore inflation can multiply the pain for earners, savers, and recipients of benefit programs as well.This E-Brief identifies problematic interactions between inflation...

Tax rules requiring RRIF withdrawals need revamping. Longer lives and lower returns increase the likelihood that mandatory minimum withdrawals will leave seniors with negligible income from their tax-deferred saving in their later years.Government impatience for revenue should not force holders...

In the last several years, the financial situation of the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) has been deteriorating, a trend evidenced by the latest actuarial projections. In this e-brief, Senior Policy Analyst Alexandre Laurin points out how last year’s losses at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du...

Governments are major employers, and many provide defined benefit pension plans with full inflation indexing and generous early retirement provisions. Hence, changes in thinking about, and accounting for, the costs of defined benefit pension plans have major implications for government finances....

Governments are major employers, and usually provide defined-benefit (DB) pension plans with full inflation indexing and generous early retirement provisions. Hence, changes in thinking about, and accounting for, the costs of DB pension plans have major implications for government finances. Both...

Tax measures announced in the latest Quebec budget strike a balance between good economic outcomes and attention to fairness in how tax burdens are shared. The author assesses Quebec’s budget measures according to their impacts on the tax burden and how well provincial taxes match citizens’...

Unusual economic and political circumstances surround the framing of the 2009 federal budget. A period of global spending outrunning productive capacity has ended with financial crisis and recession in much of the world, Canada included. The sudden slump has prompted demand for, and expectations...

The January 2009 federal budget proposed funding a “Canadian Secured Credit Facility” as part of an economic action plan. This Facility will allocate up to $12 billion to purchases of term asset-backed securities (ABS) for loans and leases on vehicles and equipment. The Facility will be...