86 research outputs found
Sales Tax Reform in Ontario: The time is Right
No full textPutting an end to Ontario’s archaic retail sales tax and adopting a value-added tax like the GST would sharply lower the effective tax rate on new business investment and offer the province a much-needed economic boost.sales tax, VAT, consumer prices
Western METRics: Marginal Effective Tax Rates in the Western Provinces
No full textWhat impact do the tax systems of Canada’s Western provinces have on families’take-home pay and seniors’ pension income, and how does it compare to other provinces? This report answers the question by looking at marginal effective tax rates (METRs) on personal income, which measure the impact of federal and provincial income taxes combined with reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, marginal effective tax rates (METRs), Canada, Canadian western provinces
What Has Happened to Quebecers’ Marginal Effective Tax Rates?
No full textMore than a decade after Quebec and the federal government implemented significant personal income tax rate reductions, what has happened to Quebecers’ take-home pay? This paper answers the question by looking at marginal effective tax rates (METRs) on personal income, which measure the impact of federal and provincial income taxes combined with the impact of reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits. Income-tested credits and benefits mostly target financial support to low-to-middle income families with children and to low-income seniors. However, clawbacks and rate reductions apply to those credits and benefits as incomes rise above set thresholds, raising METRs for those income groups and family types. Overall, METRs are lower than a decade ago, but for many low-to-middle income Quebec families with children, they are higher. The province’s residents generally face the highest tax rates in the country, with an average METR in 2011 exceeding the national average by four percentage points.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, Province of Quebec, marginal effective tax rates (METRs)
Flaherty's Missed Opportunity
No full textFinance Minister Jim Flaherty’s business tax relief goals are a welcome start to tax relief, but should be accompanied by a broadening of the corporate tax base to make taxes more neutral and fair and enable future reductions, according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In Flaherty’s Missed Opportunity, Duanjie Chen, George Weston Analyst in Tax Policy, says the federal government’s Economic Statement made good progress in October by promising a reduction in federal business tax rates by 2012, from 22.1 percent to 15 percent. Even after this reduction, however, the Canadian effective tax rate on most services will still be sixth highest among the 30 member countries of the OECD.fiscal policy, corporate tax policy
What's My METR? Marginal Effective Tax Rates Are Down - But Not for Everyone: The Ontario Case
No full textThe marginal effective tax rate (METR) on personal income, explain the authors, measures the impact, on take-home pay, of federal and provincial income taxes combined with the impact of reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits as individual or family income rises. These income-tested credits and benefits mostly target financial support to low- and middle-income families with children, or to low-income seniors. As their income rises past prescribed thresholds, clawbacks and reductions begin, raising the METR on each dollar of incremental income above the threshold. Policymakers interested in keeping down METRs overall, say the authors, should consider reinvigorating the personal income tax relief imperative, rather than implementing or expanding targeted benefits that make general tax relief more difficult to achieve.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, marginal effective tax rate (METR), Province of Ontario
Saver's Choice: Comparing the Marginal Effective Tax Burdens on RRSPs and TFSAs
No full textCanada’s graduated personal income tax leads most taxpayers to expect higher tax rates when they are working than when they are living on lower incomes from their retirement savings. Yet for many people, marginal effective tax rates on income from retirement savings are higher than those they face during working life. Comparing marginal effective tax rates across income levels suggests that many Canadians with savings in tax-deferred vehicles, like Registered Retirement Savings Plans, should put more future saving in tax-prepaid savings plans, particularly Tax Free Savings Accounts.Pension Papers, Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), marginal effective tax rates (METRs)
Lagging Behind: Productivity and the Good Fortune of Canadian Provinces
No full textThe good fortune of bountiful natural resources is not enough to ensure rising incomes for Canadians in the long term. Growing labour productivity is the most important determinant of future economic welfare and on that measure, Canada is falling behind its major trading partners. Increasing labour productivity does not mean workers working harder for less money, a common canard. It means more investment in one of three factors: 1) human capital (education or other learning); 2) physical capital (plants or other infrastructure); or 3) technology. Just as an individual’s income is in the long-run dependent on how productive he or she is, so too is that of the nation as a whole. If Canada fails to improve its productivity, the incomes of both individual Canadians and the nation as a whole will fall behind those of other developed countries.Economic Growth and innovation, Canadian provinces, labour productivity
Still High: Marginal Effective Tax Rates on Low-Income Families
No full textMost federal and provincial government benefits for families with children are sharply income-tested. Reductions in these benefits, as family income rises, mean that low-income families face much higher effective tax rates than most others do, and deny such families the full benefit of the broad-based tax rate relief other Canadians have enjoyed in recent years.social policy, Marginal Effective Tax Rates, tax relief initiatives
The Time is Still Right for BC’s HST
No full textBritish Columbia is on the right track with its controversial move to a harmonized sales tax (HST), according to this report. The authors say the shift to a value-added tax mirrors patterns in most of the developed world, and helped move the province from being a high tax, investment-unfriendly jurisdiction, to one which is domestically and internationally competitive – a more attractive home for investment and jobs. Consumption taxes like the HST in BC impose smaller burdens on the economy, per dollar of government revenue, than alternatives such as old-style retail sales taxes or taxes on personal and business incomes. For this and other reasons, conclude the authors, BC residents are well served by the new HST.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, British Columbia (Province), harmonized sales tax (HST)
Overnight Moves: The Bank of Canada Should Start to Raise Interest Rates Now
No full textWhen the Bank of Canada will begin raising interest rates is looking very different than when it should even though the risks of postponement are growing. If more “no-change” decisions are made by the Bank of Canada regarding its policy interest rate, inflation expectations might begin to slip loose of their 2 percent anchor. Further, with the Fed continuing to hold a near-zero rate, the US dollar is likely to continue its steady slide. If the Canadian dollar moves at least partially with the US dollar, because the Bank of Canada keeps its interest rate close to the federal funds rate, the higher inflation rates of energy and other commodity prices that are currently deemed temporary might start to look permanent.Monetary Policy, Bank of Canada, interest rates, inflation rate
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