Government Spending & Taxes

— Jun 15, 2022
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This year, Tax Freedom Day is Wednesday, June 15. If you had to pay all your federal, provincial and municipal taxes up front, you would give government every dollar you earned from January 1st to Tax Freedom Day, when Canadians finally start working for themselves. In 2022, the average Canadian family (with two or more people) will pay 45.2 per cent of its annual income in taxes, including income taxes, payroll taxes, health taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes and more.

— Jun 8, 2022
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Do Budget Deficits Matter?

Low Interest Rates and the Cost of Government Debt and Canada’s Budget and Deficit Cuts in the Late 20th Century: An Amazing Success Story are the latest installments in an essay series on government deficits that emphasize the risks of higher interest costs on government debt, and note the similarities between today’s federal fiscal situation and the mid-1990s when interest costs consumed one of every three dollars of government revenue. At that time, the government enacted major reforms—including spending reductions—to help dramatically reduce the federal debt.

— May 26, 2022
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Understanding the Changing Ratio of Working-Age Canadians to Seniors and Its Consequences

Understanding the Changing Ratio of Working-Age Canadians to Seniors and Its Consequences is a new study that finds as Canada’s population ages, the number of working-aged Canadians relative to the number of seniors has declined from 5.4 in 2000 to 3.4 in 2022, which means government spending related to seniors is increasing at the same time that the growth in tax revenues is declining.

— May 12, 2022
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What Changed in Alberta from the Fall 2021 Mid-year Update to Budget 2022

What Changed in Alberta from the Fall 2021 Mid-year Update to Budget 2022 is a new study that finds following a windfall in resource revenue, the recent Alberta budget increased program spending by $4 billion over the next three years. This increase in spending is above and beyond what would be required to keep pace with inflation and population growth.

— May 3, 2022
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Polling Canadians’ Support for New Federal Government Programs

Polling Canadians’ Support for New Federal Government Programs is a new study, based on a Leger poll commissioned by the Fraser Institute, that finds support for national dental care, pharmacare and $10-a-day daycare drops significantly when tax increases are included, specifically GST hikes. In fact, 4-in-10 Canadians (or less) support the new programs introduced or committed to in the recent federal budget if the GST were increased in order to pay for them.

— Apr 26, 2022
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What Are the Economic Costs of Raising Revenue by the Canadian Federal Government?

What Are the Economic Costs of Raising Revenue by the Canadian Federal Government? finds that for every additional ($1) dollar of personal income tax revenue collected by the federal government, $2.86 is lost in economic activity because of less investment, less entrepreneurship, less spending and other behavioural changes that shrink the tax base.

— Apr 6, 2022
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No Free Lunch for the 99 Percent: Estimating Revenue Effects from Taxes on Top Earners

No Free Lunch for the 99 Percent: Estimating Revenue Effects from Taxes on Top Earners finds that if the federal government, which plans to table its next budget this week, wants to fund a major expansion of government, it simply can’t raise enough tax revenue solely from Canada’s upper-income families.

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