taxes

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No normal person pays close attention to who is "in" or "out" as finance minister, and that's a good thing. It means the politician in question has avoided messing up the lives of ordinary Canadians. Still, their actions can and do matter, for better or worse.


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If Canadians need a reason to support the just-announced free trade agreement with South Korea, here are a few hundred million: every year, Canadians pay hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden taxes on imported automobiles and auto-related products. At least some of those hidden taxes are in the form of tariffs applied to imports from South Korea.


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When apologists for the provincial government's new borrowing binge defend it on the grounds that private sector companies borrow money for capital expenses so why not have the Alberta government do the same? their defence invariably contains a significant and faulty assumption: that political behaviour is the same as that of private companies.


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One item sorely missing from Finance Minister Mike de Jong’s recent provincial budget was a plan to make BC’s business taxes more competitive and attractive for investment.


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As Albertans approach another provincial budget, the usual fables about Alberta's finances often crop up. To inoculate ourselves in advance, let's ponder two myths.

Myth Number One: Alberta's wealth is a result of luck.

This tall tale assumes that the existence of natural resources automatically results in wealth creation, jobs, and a higher standard of living. That's hardly the case. Plenty of jurisdictions have little in the way of natural resources but prosper, while others have plentiful natural resources yet flounder.


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Tuesday’s BC budget, which Finance Minister Michael de Jong called boring, balanced, should have set out an ambitious agenda for the next four years.


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On February 18th British Columbians will be watching to see if finance minister Mike de Jong’s budget sets out a plan to deliver on his government’s ambitious goals with respect to economic growth and job creation. And the truth is, the province needs it. The past year was a disappointing one for BC in terms of economic and employment growth compared to other provinces.


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On Wednesday, the day after delivering the 2014 federal budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty set off a firestorm by offering his view on income-splitting, a platform commitment the Conservatives made for when the government returns to a balanced budget (likely next year). I'm not sure that, overall, it [income-splitting] benefits our society, Minister Flaherty stated, preferring instead to, reduce taxes more.

While readers of this page will know we haven't always agreed with Minister Flaherty over the years, he is right on the money with respect to income-splitting.


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Until recently, there was a consensus in favour of competitive business taxes. But whenever governments are strapped for cash - which is most of the time for most of them, given their voracious appetite for spending - eyes quickly turn to corporate income taxes as an expedient and presumed painless way to extract more revenue. Two provinces raised corporate tax rates in 2013.