CCPA Senior Economist Armine Yalnizyan gives us five strong reasons to say no to more corporate tax cuts in this short video.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Bank published their "Paying Taxes 2011" study. Among other things it examines the total tax rate paid by a hypothetical flower pot corporation in 183 countries around the world. Canada is in the top 10 countries in terms of how easy it is to pay taxes.
What is more striking is that Canada's Total Tax Rate is significantly lower than any of the other G8 countries. In a global race to the bottom our corporate taxes are 17% lower than the US and half the rate as France. At a time of high deficits, high unemployment and Canadians in need, how much more 'competitve' do we need to be?
It appears as though this year's federal budget will be particularly important in the parliamentary calendar as it may be what brings down the government. Ignatieff appears to be planning to vote against Flaherty's budget unless there are some radical changes. This will also increase the relevance of this year's Alternative Federal Budget as it shows the tremendous things the federal government could do for Canadians.
The most recent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) publication surveyed those implementing infrastructure projects to see what effect those projects had on unemployment (among other things). The results were mixed with over three quarters of those implementing infrastructure projects reporting that those projects had either no impact or a negative impact on unemployment. What is interesting is that despite the “Economic Action Plan” of the federal government, all government spending on construction projects remained relatively stable over the past several years, suggesting that federal money stood in for provincial and municipal capital spending that was being withdrawn.
What the PBO survey may reflect is that the employment created by federal dollars only partially made up for the cutback in provincial and municipal dollars. The federal stimulus effort was simply too small to significantly increase employment in the construction sector.
The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has continued to release analysis on spending from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund adding much needed transparency despite the general lack from the federal government itself. Unfortunately, this particular fund only represents about a quarter of all infrastructure spending. The remainder of the infrastructure spending is a complete black box. Thankfully, the PBO's discovery that approximately 25% of all infrastructure projects weren't going to make the March 31st, 2011 deadline has lead the government to extend their deadline.
Although at the periphery of federal budget debates, transfers the provinces were put in focus again this week. The Chretien government with Paul Martin as finance minister put Canada through the most recent cuts to program spending to erase the deficit starting in 1996. Part of the result was cuts to provincial transfers which in turn created a crisis in health care funding.
Flash forward 15 years and a similar battle may be brewing again. The federal government has yet to decide what it will do when current provincial transfer agreements expire in 2014. The recent Update on Economic and Fiscal Projections retained the previous escalators. However the federal government appears interested in cutting those transfers and letting the debt-burdened provinces deal with the increased demands alone.
The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) yesterday released its assessment of the federal government's October economic update. In its October update, the government projected that the federal deficit would be eliminated in 5 years. Yesterday's PBO report argues that there is an 85% chance that the deficit will persist after 5 years. The independent office "...believes the magnitude of the Government's risk adjustment is minimal and does not adequately reflect the magnitude of the downside risks..." In other words, the PBO's view is that the government is overly optimistic and it is not adequately preparing Canada for future shocks to the economy.
Every year as part of the federal government's budget process, the budget committee asks for "pre-budget submissions." Essentially these documents are ideas that any person or group can put forward about what they would like to see in the upcoming federal budget. The goal is to have the ideas find their way into the actual budget. Pre-budget submissions can be submitted in writing and/or in person during the fall. Below is a partial list of the written pre-budget submissions from AFB partners whether from NGO's, civil society groups or labour groups.
The list will be updated as more submissions are made.
Canadian Association of Retired Persons
Canadian Community Economic Development Network
Canadian Conference of the Arts (English)
Canadian Conference of the Arts (French)
Canadian Federation of Students
Canadian Union of Public Employees
National Aboriginal Caucus of Students (Canadian Federation of Students)
National Graduate Caucus (Canadian Federation of Students)
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (English)
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (French)
When you think about taxes, do you think about the $10,000 having a baby could cost if you lived in the U.S. and didn't have health insurance?
Do you think about an education system that allows even the children of poor families to become doctors, teachers, or engineers?
Government inspectors who make sure highway overpasses are repaired before they fall down, that meat packing plants don't poison their customers, that a city's water is safe to drink?
Read more about what our taxes buy us in this new primer.
Two new online calculators highlight the fact that government spending changes have a real effect on the economy. The calculators demonstrate the change in employment and economic activity based on changes in government spending.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities calculator allows users to find out how many jobs are created by typical municipal projects, as well as their impacts on government revenue. NUPGE's All Together Now calculator estimates the number of public and private jobs lost due to budget cuts.
The CCPA Monitor is the only place I know that one can go to for accurate and honest reporting on the state of the world. I would hate like hell to ever be without The CCPA Monitor; it would be like losing my sight and my hearing. I heartily recommend it to anybody who gives a damn about the condition of the world.
— Farley Mowat