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Canada’s Rising Personal Tax Rates and Falling Tax Competitiveness, 2024

Canada’s Rising Personal Tax Rates and Falling Tax Competitiveness, 2024 is a new study that finds recent personal income tax rate increases at the federal and provincial levels have helped widen the income tax rate gap between the U.S. and Canada—among all 61 provinces and states, at $50,000 of annual income, the top 10 highest combined (federal plus provincial/state) personal income tax rates are in nine Canadian provinces—with all provinces in the top 15.

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Three Non-Economic Challenges Facing the Renewable-Energy Transition

Three Non-Economic Challenges Facing the Renewable-Energy Transition is a new study that finds although some costs associated with the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables are declining, significant barriers still remain. For example, the large amount of land required for solar and wind power generation, and the significant increase in mining activity and refinement capabilities required to build the wind turbines, solar panels, and energy storage systems.

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Undoing Alberta’s Personal Income Tax Hikes

Undoing Alberta’s Personal Income Tax Hikes is a new study that finds reversing the 2015 provincial personal income tax rate increases and instituting a flat eight per cent tax rate would help restore Alberta’s tax advantage while saving taxpayers $1,573 a year, on average.

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The Size of Government in Canada in 2022

The Size of Government in Canada in 2022 measures federal, provincial, and local government spending in each province as a share of the economy (GDP) from 2007 to 2022 (the most recent year of comparable data) finding that government size grew in every province except Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan during that period. In 2022, the size of government relative to the economy as a whole across Canada ranged from a low of 26.8 per cent in Alberta to a high of 63 per cent in Nova Scotia--and was 40.5 of Canada’s total economy.

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The Role of Natural Resources in British Columbia's Economy

The Role of Natural Resources in British Columbia’s Economy, by Senior Fellow Philip Cross, is the first essay in a new series looking at public policy in B.C. This essay quantifies the important role natural resources play in British Columbia’s economy, including the impact on both gross domestic product and employment.

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School Spending and Performance in Canada and Other High-Income Countries

School Spending and Performance in Canada and Other High-Income Countries is a new study that finds higher per-student spending levels are not associated with stronger academic achievement. In fact, among the provinces, Saskatchewan was the highest per-student spender but ranked 8th out of the 10 provinces in scores on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Manitoba was the second highest per-student spender and recorded the lowest PISA scores nationwide. Conversely, British Columbia was the lowest spender per student in Canada and achieved the fourth-highest PISA scores.

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Enhancing Economic Growth Through Federal Personal Income Tax Reform is a new study that finds the federal government can reduce the top marginal income tax rate to 29.0 per cent—where it was before the Trudeau government increased it—and completely eliminate the three middle income tax rates of 20.5 per cent, 26.0 per cent, and 29.0 per cent by reforming and simplifying the tax code and removing a host of special carve outs, credits and other tax measures.