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Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Canada, 2020

Main Conclusions Using data on individual workers from January to December 2018, this report estimates the wage differential between the government and private sectors in Canada. It also evaluates four non-wage benefits for which data are available to ...

Trudeau government smashes spending record, must right country’s fiscal ship

Appeared in the Toronto Sun, May 27, 2020 The federal deficit—that is, the amount of government spending in excess of government revenues this year—is now estimated at more than $250 billion and counting. The sticker shock has many Canadians increasingly ...

Prime Ministers and Government Spending: Updated 2020 Edition

This essay updates the previous 2020 measure of per-person program spending by prime ministers, adjusting for inflation, since 1870. This essay focuses on the potential level of spending in 2020 based on the government’s response to the COVID ...

Deferring Federal Taxes: Illustrating the Deficit Using the GST

It is sometimes difficult for everyday Canadians to grasp the size of the federal deficit— estimated at $26.6 billion for 2019-20—because of its sheer size. This bulletin, along with subsequent planned instalments, aims to give Canadians that ...

Tax Freedom Day came early this year—but there’s not much to celebrate

Appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press May 22, 2020 Have you ever wondered how much you actually pay in taxes each year? While tax returns help us understand how much income tax we pay, it’s difficult for most Canadians to calculate their total tax bill. In ...

Trudeau government COVID assistance lacks proper targeting

There was a time when the policy debate in Canada focused on how generous government assistance should be for those in “need,” mainly low-income Canadians, resulting in targeted programs such as welfare for the working-age population, ...

Tax Freedom Day: 2020 Report

Tax Freedom Day is the day in the year when the average Canadian family has earned enough money to pay the taxes imposed on it by all three levels of government (federal, provincial, and local). The total tax bill of the average Canadian family, ...