Capital gains tax hike is a shortsighted move with long-term consequences – Financial Post

This week’s federal budget focuses on spending initiatives that, in the name of intergenerational fairness, it asks the wealthiest among us to pay for. A better way to finance new spending would be to arrest and reverse Canada’s growth and productivity challenges. Not only does the budget not do that, but its increase in the capital gains inclusion rate from 50 per cent to 66 per cent for corporations, trusts, and individuals on gains in excess of $250,000 a year is likely to make these challenges worse.

Some owners of small businesses who are active in their businesses will catch a break — just a 33 per cent inclusion rate up to a maximum of $2 million in lifetime capital gains — provided they don’t operate in the financial,…

Grading the federal budget: The government earns another ‘D’ – Financial Post

Before the federal budget, we laid out a 10-point scheme for grading it. We were hoping the document would deserve better than the ‘D’ we gave the government’s fall economic statement. Unfortunately, it falls well short of what Canadians need and therefore gets another ‘D.’ Here’s our detailed report card:

1. Timely release. The budget was late — more than two weeks into the fiscal year and six weeks after the Main Estimates. Money is being spent without due consideration by Parliament. D.

2. Cut the spin and just give us the figures. The key numbers — revenue, expenses, deficits and debt — should be up front but were buried under 350-plus pages of spin. D.

3. Make clear what is rehashed and what is new. The budget…

The budget got one thing right — living standards are slipping. Then it made things worse – Financial Post

This week’s federal budget paid passing lip service to the challenge of Canada’s dismal productivity and falling living standards. In an over-long and mostly self-congratulatory preamble, the budget acknowledged: “Canada has struggled with productivity growth — how much more income we are able to generate with each hour worked. This has led to a longstanding productivity gap, notably with the United States. Expanding the productive capacity of the Canadian economy and overcoming Canada’s productivity challenges are essential.”

Important words, but whoever wrote them seems to have had no influence over what came next. The budget’s projections and measures prefigure nothing but more handouts, higher taxes, mounting debt and…

The Municipal Money Mystery: Fiscal Accountability in Canada’s Cities, 2023

Government, be serious – The Hub

Yesterday’s federal budget showed again—as if it were needed—that this government is not serious about public finances. It was late, given that the 2024/25 fiscal year started more than two weeks ago. It buried the numbers on revenue, expenses, deficit, and debt that ought to be upfront under 350-plus pages of spin. And while the numbers themselves look serious—relentlessly rising taxes and spending, chronic deficits, and interest eating ever more revenue—we have no reason to believe them.

Why would we? The government’s first projections for the current budget year of 2024/25 were in its 2019 fall economic statement. That statement showed federal spending of $421 billion in 2024/25. The government presented no budget at all in…

Tax Reform is Taxing with Heather Evans

If you care about the direction of the country, you must care about tax reform. That’s the sentiment from the Canadian Tax Foundation’s Heather Evans who warns “fiscal pollution” is clouding our ability to attract business development. But is a 2 percent increase in the GST the solution?

Bill Robson on BNN: Business investment is so low, we’re working harder but not seeing the benefit of it 3/3

This budget does nothing to help on that front, says Bill Robson, CEO, C.D. Howe Institute

Bill Robson on BNN: Increasing taxes on businesses is going to depress investment further Part 2/3

Somebody’s going to have to pay, either the business, the employees or the customers says, Bill Robson, CEO, C.D. Howe Institute.

Drummond, Robson – Grading the 2024 Federal Budget: A 10-point Scheme

Bonnie Lysyk – Let’s Bring Full Spending Information into Budgets

Ten guides for grading next week’s federal budget – Financial Post

Canada’s fiscal situation is dire, with bloated spending, excessive borrowing and growth-stifling taxes. Canadians need a responsible federal budget — if not an A-grade fiscal plan, at least a solid B. It needs to do much better than the D we gave last fall’s fiscal statement.

Here are 10 guides we’ll be following in grading next week’s federal budget.

1. Timely release. On this one, a failing grade is already locked in. The budget arrives two weeks into the 2024-25 fiscal year for which it is supposedly the plan and six weeks after the Main Estimates. That means money is being spent without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

2. Cut the spin and give us the figures. Recent budgets have run several hundred pages, but…

Ottawa’s tax-and-spend regime needs an overhaul – Globe and Mail

The federal expenditure management system looks good on paper. Transparency is served by publication of five-year spending plans for major spending categories in the annual budget and detailed information in the government’s main estimates and departmental plans. Efficiency and effectiveness are served by setting objectives for program spending and requiring departments to report on the achievement of these objectives. This result-based management framework is buttressed by requiring most spending programs to be evaluated on a five-year cycle. Transparency is further served by making these reports publicly available.

Dig a little deeper, however, and the flaws become apparent. The first is incomplete coverage of spending.…