Drummond, Robson – There Are No Excuses for April Budgets
To: Canadian public finance watchers From: Don Drummond and William B.P. Robson Date: March 27, 2024 Re: There Are No Excuses for April Budgets Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is to deliver the 2024 federal budget on April 16, more than two weeks after the April 1 start of the 2024-25 fiscal year. Late federal budgets have become a pattern. The 2023 […] What will you get for your tax dollars? The budget should be clear – The Trillium
It’s time for the Ontario government to provide better information to the public on service improvements and cuts and when capital construction projects will be completed.
Budget day is important for the government, but more so for the citizens that the government’s choices will impact.
It’s a time when the information provided to the public, including the media, needs to be presented in a transparent and clear manner. With a finite amount of taxpayer dollars, it’s ever the more important that the public obtain comprehensive budget information to clearly understand how government spending will impact them — in health, education, the justice system and social programs — by virtue of the programming and service level choices…
Responsible governments don’t present late budgets – The Hill Times
Along with rampant spending, erratic tax changes, and mounting debt, the federal government is developing another bad fiscal habit: its budgets are getting later.
The government has announced that it will present its budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025, on April 16. By then, we will be more than two weeks into the fiscal year. That is too late.
The record of the Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was somewhat better before that. While only one of the four budgets they delivered from 2016-17 to 2019-20 appeared before March—and not by much: it came out on Feb. 27, 2018—none appeared after April 1. But their overall record is bad. Of the budgets they should have…
Garbutt, Harker – Choosing Which “Critical Minerals” Should Be Subsidized Is Problematic
From: Jonathan Garbutt & Michael Harker To: The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Finance of Canada Date: March 26, 2024 Re: Choosing Which “Critical Minerals” Should Be Subsidized Is Problematic Finance Canada has proposed amendments via Bill C-59 to the Income Tax Act that expand Canada’s flow-through share (FTS) tax incentive program to include mining projects […] Lennie Kaplan – Albertans Concerned with Preserving Fiscal Transparency and Accountability
From: Lennie Kaplan To: Albertans concerned with preserving fiscal transparency and accountability Date: March 25, 2024 Re: Alberta risks back-sliding on fiscal transparency and accountability With the introduction of recent amendments to Alberta’s fiscal framework, the provincial government risks back-sliding on fiscal transparency and accountability as tracked annually by the C.D. Howe Institute. The Alberta government amendment in question abandons […] The Art of Making an Ontario Budget
A look at the deliberation and scrutiny that goes into creating Ontario’s annual spending roadmap, with former Ontario finance ministers Ernie Eves, Janet Ecker, and Greg Sorbara.
Janet Ecker was the first ever female Finance Minister in Ontario, holding the job from 2002 to 2003. She is now a Senior Fellow with the C.D. Howe Institute.
William B.P. Robson – A Cheer for Nova Scotia’s New Inflation Indexing
From: William B.P. Robson To: Beleaguered taxpayers Date: March 21, 2024 Re: A Cheer for Nova Scotia’s New Inflation Indexing Nova Scotia’s budgets do not always make national headlines, but the one recently delivered by Minister of Finance and Treasury Board Allan MacMaster got some well-deserved attention. It indexed the province’s personal income tax to inflation. Starting next January, the thresholds […] Godbout, Samoisette – On Its Anniversary, Has the Goal of the Canada Learning Bond Been Achieved?
From: Luc Godbout and Luce Samoisette To: Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Finance and Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue Date: March 19, 2024 Subject: On Its Anniversary, Has the Goal of the Canada Learning Bond Been Achieved? Twenty years ago, the federal government launched an initiative to promote post-secondary access for children from low-income families with a Canada Learning Bond […] Godbout, Samoisette – Maximiser le bon d’études canadien en l’offrant à tous les enfants de familles à revenu modeste
De: Luc Godbout et Luce Samoisette À: Chrystia Freeland, ministre des Finances et Marie-Claude Bibeau, ministre du Revenu national Date: 19 mars 2024 Sujet: Maximiser le bon d’études canadien en l’offrant à tous les enfants de familles à revenu modeste Il y a 20 ans, le budget fédéral annonçait une nouveauté afin de favoriser l’accès […] Kudos to Nova Scotia for a budget that declines to profit from inflation – Financial Post
Nova Scotia’s budgets do not always make national headlines, but the one recently delivered by Minister of Finance and Treasury Board Allan MacMaster got some well-deserved attention. It indexed the province’s personal income tax to inflation. Starting next January, the thresholds for all Nova Scotia’s tax brackets and its non-refundable credits for spouses and dependents will rise with the consumer price index each year.
As Alexandre Laurin and I argued in a recent C.D. Howe Institute report, this move is long overdue. Price surges during the pandemic reminded everyone that inflation and taxes are a toxic combination. Governments that tax nominal amounts even when inflation is eroding money’s purchasing power dodge…
Laurin, Dahir – Here’s a Suggestion: A Revenue-Neutral Tax Reform for an Economic Boost
From: Alexandre Laurin and Nick Dahir To: Canadians concerned about economic growth Date: March 14, 2024 Re: Here’s a Suggestion: A Revenue-Neutral Tax Reform for an Economic Boost A change in Canada’s tax mix was among the ideas circulating last summer at the C.D. Howe Institute’s two-day conference on tax policy. This country is an average-tax nation overall, but relies […] A federal budget two weeks after fiscal year begins – what’s the excuse? – Globe and Mail
Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has announced that the 2024 federal budget will be delivered on April 16. That is more than two weeks after the April 1 start of the budget year: fiscal 2024-25.
Late federal budgets have become a pattern. The 2023 budget was delivered March 28 – just three days ahead of April 1, and nowhere near early enough for Parliament or anyone else to even consider the fiscal plan before the year started. In both 2022 (April 7) and 2021 (April 19), the government also failed to get the budget out before the new fiscal year began. Go back a year earlier, and the situation was even worse. There was no budget.
It should be clear: Timely budgets with their tax and expenditure plans are good.…