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1. Federal government’s carbon-pricing system violates basic tenets of efficient carbon pricing

   In a highly anticipated announcement, the federal government today revealed details of its carbon-pricing system, which will impose a federal carbon tax on provinces that have chosen to forego a provincial policy. The system violates ...

2. State of federal finances worse than previously thought

   The latest federal budget showed that public finances are in poor shape and Ottawa is ill-prepared for a possible economic recession. But a recent Parliamentary Budget Office report suggests the situation may be worse than the government ...

3. Trudeau government 0-for-3 for budgets that improve fundamentals for growing the economy

   With the Trudeau government tabling its third budget, the script has become familiar. Each budget the government loudly proclaims platitudes about growing the economy and helping the middle class. In reality, there’s no magic lever to ...

4. Federal budget an opportunity for Ottawa to change big spending ways

   Since coming into office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has markedly increased spending, contributing to larger-than-promised budget deficits with no end in sight. Next week’s federal budget is an opportunity to change ...

5. U.S. invites new oil and gas investment while Canada lags behind

   Last week, America’s oil and gas sector received good news on the investment front. Pembina Pipeline Corp’s CEO Mick Dilger said that the next “game-changing” project could be in the United States, not Canada. He’s referring to the ...

6. Tax hatred? No, tax awareness and tax reform

   Among the modern criteria for a good tax system are the principles of efficiency and equity. But another important principle is also awareness—that is, taxpayers should be aware of the taxes the pay and the benefits they receive from ...

7. Canada’s federal deficits would be much worse without Alberta

   The prevailing narrative surrounding the post-2008 recovery in Canada is that the country weathered the storm significantly better than the United States, and has emerged in relatively strong fiscal shape (though certainly not unscathed) ...

8. Provincial and local governments should make infrastructure decisions, not Ottawa

   Last week, and as part of Ottawa’s multi-billion infrastructure spending plan, Amarjeet Sohi, federal minister of infrastructure and communities, wrote letters to his ministerial counterparts in each province and territory laying out ...

9. Major changes to Canada’s federal personal income tax—1917-2017

   As a result of the funding demands of the First World War, Canada’s federal government introduced both a personal and corporate income tax in 1917. The advent of the personal income tax in particular marked a significant shift in federal ...

10. William Watson: My favourite finance minister of them all

    Last week the Fraser Institute published a short book about the income tax, then and now, edited by Fraser executive vice-president Jason Clemens and myself. It’s called The History and Development of Canada’s Personal Income Tax: Zero ...