Big Spenders: Canada’s Senior Governments Have a Bad Budget Habit
Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments have spent a combined total of $91 billion more than they said they would since 2000, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Big Spenders: Canada’s Senior Governments Have a Bad Budget Habit,” authors William B.P. Robson and Farah Omran compare the budgets of Canada’s senior governments […] Bill Robson on BNN – Governments overspent $91B in last two decades
Bill Robson, CEO of the C.D. Howe Institue, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss senior governments’ chronic overspending problem.
Boadway, Pestieau – Why an Annual Wealth Tax is Unnecessary
From: Robin Boadway and Pierre Pestieau To: The Hon. Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance Date: July 9, 2019 Re: Why an Annual Wealth Tax is Unnecessary The idea of an annual wealth tax has taken on new prominence since French economist Thomas Piketty famously proposed one in 2013. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has made a national wealth tax a […] Kronick, Robson – Senate Inquiry into Bank of Canada Act
From: Jeremy M. Kronick and William B.P. Robson To: Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance Date: July 2, 2019 Re: Senate Inquiry into Bank of Canada Act Recently, a group of economists urged you to add a “maximum employment” target to the Bank of Canada’s current goal of maintaining inflation at 2 percent. You should respectfully decline. […] William B.P. Robson – Seniors Consumer Price Index Follies
From: William B. P. Robson To: Filomena Tassi, federal Minister of Seniors Date: June 27, 2019 Re: Seniors Consumer Price Index Follies Your government’s 2015 election platform had a problematic plank. It promised to calculate a Seniors Price Index more reflective of things seniors consume than the current Consumer Price Index (CPI). It further promised […] An Annual Wealth Tax for Canada is Unnecessary – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
The idea of an annual wealth tax has taken on new prominence since French economist Thomas Piketty famously proposed a global wealth tax in 2013. Senator Elizabeth Warren has made a national wealth tax a plank in her campaign to become the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. And, the NDP recently announced that its election platform would include a one percent tax on the net worth of Canadians in excess of $20 million.
The current interest in wealth taxation is a response to the increase in wealth concentration and income inequality that has occurred in most OECD countries. It has been well documented that both income and wealth inequality have risen significantly in recent decades. An annual wealth tax might seem like a…
Over the Top: Why an Annual Wealth Tax for Canada is Unnecessary
Proponents of an annual wealth tax in Canada and abroad are giving a flawed idea new life, according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Over the Top: Why an Annual Wealth Tax for Canada is Unnecessary,” authors Robin Boadway and Pierre Pestieau note the rising calls for a national wealth tax – […] Show and Tell: Rating the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s Senior Governments, 2019
Canada’s senior governments receive grades ranging from A to F for transparency and reliability in their financial reporting, in the C.D. Howe Institute’s latest fiscal accountability ranking. In “Show and Tell: Rating the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s Senior Governments, 2019,” authors William B.P. Robson and Farah Omran grade the transparency and reliability of the federal, […] Robson, Kronick – Full Employment not the Job for Central Bankers
From: William B.P. Robson and Jeremy M. Kronick To: Governing Council, Bank of Canada Date: June 10, 2019 Re: Full Employment not the Job for Central Bankers Senator Diane Bellemare has launched an inquiry into revising the Bank of Canada Act to add full employment to the bank’s mandate. Senator Bellemare’s inquiry appears to reflect a view […] Glen Hodgson – Fiscal Warning Bells Are Ringing for Provincial Treasuries
From: Glen Hodgson To: Canada’s finance ministers Date: June 5, 2019 Re: Fiscal Warning Bells Are Ringing for Provincial Treasuries Canadians may have recognized by now that our economy has entered a period of structurally slower economic growth, due principally to an aging population. Immediate economic factors often capture the headlines, such as the US-China trade dispute, whether […] Provinces face a harder fiscal reality – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Canadians may have recognized by now that our economy has entered a period of structurally slower economic growth, due principally to an aging population. Immediate economic factors often capture the headlines, such as the U.S.-China trade dispute, whether the U.S. Congress will pass the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), high levels of personal debt or higher interest rates. These factors combined have increased uncertainty and reduced the consensus growth outlook for Canada to well below 1.5 per cent in 2019.
Aging demographics and sharply slower growth in the labour force, however, are the real culprits. Canada’s sustainable long-term growth rate has fallen below 2 per cent annually, with growth potential a bit…
Paul M. Jacobson – Is There a Big Mortgage Debt Problem?
From: Paul M. Jacobson To: Canadians concerned about debt levels Date: May 21, 2019 Re: Is There a Big Mortgage Debt Problem? In our 2015 C.D. Howe Institute study, Craig Alexander and I looked at some aspects of household mortgages in Canada. The main research dataset was the 2012 cycle of the Survey of Financial […]