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1. Canada’s finance minister apparently doesn’t understand the difference between taxes and transfers

   The job of finance minister requires a wide breadth of knowledge and clear understanding of public finance. So it’s more than a little worrisome to see federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau (pictured above) display an apparent lack of ...

2. Canada has completely lost its business tax advantage over the U.S.

   Many factors affect Canada’s ability to attract and retain investment, entrepreneurship, and skilled workers. Some of them—such as global swings in commodity prices—are not within the government’s direct control. But government policies ...

3. Federal tax changes, looming CPP tax hike mean higher taxes for virtually all Canadian families

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, January 15, 2018 The Trudeau government likes to talk a lot about families. Indeed, the words “family” and “families” appeared nearly 250 times in last year’s budget, and we can expect similar enthusiasm for families in the ...

4. Canada’s tax code is too complicated—even for CRA officials

   Appeared in the Vancouver Province, December 11, 2017 Canada’s personal income tax system is complicated and the nuances are often difficult to understand and interpret. This is why, when it becomes more than just a nuisance, Canadians rely on officials ...

5. Professor conflates taxes with transfers—just like the Trudeau government

   In a recent commentary in the Financial Post titled “Misleading the middle class,” Simon Fraser University professor Rhys Kesselman criticized our analysis of how federal tax policy changes have increased the amount of income tax paid by ...

6. Trudeau government has raised income taxes on majority of middle-class Canadian families

   Appeared in the Financial Post, September 27, 2017 On the campaign trail Justin Trudeau promised to cut income taxes on middle-class Canadian families. Since becoming prime minister, he and his government have repeatedly claimed to have kept this promise. ...

7. Ottawa can simplify the tax system and promote economic growth at the same time

   Appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, March 20, 2017 In its upcoming budget, the Trudeau government is expected to eliminate some of the tax credits, deductions, exemptions and other special treatments that now populate Canada’s tax code. And there are ...

8. B.C.’s budget—an opportunity to make the carbon tax revenue neutral again

   Appeared in the Vancouver Sun, February 20, 2017 This week the B.C. government will release its budget, and if last week’s Throne Speech is any indication, tax cuts may be on the way. This is welcome news, since it’s an opportunity for the government to ...

9. B.C.’s carbon tax not the ‘gold standard’ it’s made out to be

   Appeared in the Financial Post, February 16, 2017 In a major announcement last year, the Trudeau government imposed a policy that will require all provinces to put a price on carbon emissions by 2018. As governments in Canada and elsewhere pursue carbon ...

10. Examining the Revenue Neutrality of British Columbia's Carbon Tax

    British Columbia’s carbon tax is often praised as a model for other jurisdictions to follow, in part due to its alleged revenue neutrality. However, in the eight years since it was introduced, the offsetting tax measures used in the government’s revenue ...