OTTAWA—Budget 2019, tabled today in the House of Commons, takes steps forward on municipal infrastructure, support for seniors and capping the regressive stock option deduction, but missed the mark on delivering housing affordability and the significant cost-savings that can only be achieved through a universal, single-payer pharmacare system, according to experts from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Taxes and tax cuts
Study calls for comprehensive review of federal tax policy in Budget 2019
OTTAWA — Analysis of federal tax breaks released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) suggests that men are capturing the majority of benefits from tax deductions, credits and loopholes.
This report assesses who benefits from federal tax breaks and finds that men are capturing the majority of benefits from tax deductions, credits and loopholes. The portion of benefits currently going to men compared to women from 45 federal tax expenditures (tax deductions, credits, breaks and loopholes), and finds that only eight (19%) pay out greater amounts to women than men.
Photo by Spencer Tweedy (Flickr Creative Commons)
Ontario’s back-to-school season is going to be especially disruptive for families later this year. Those of us with an interest in the state of our schools, and the well-being of children and the people who help support them, need to get ready—and get to work.
Since late last year, tens of thousands of French have hit the streets in protest of the country’s rising cost of living and shrinking opportunities. Many of these gilets jaunes protesters, named after the yellow safety jackets they wear in public, rely on their vehicles to get to work, or to do their work. President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed carbon tax, which would have added painfully to the cost of working in France, was the final straw.
VICTORIA—A new, more generous child benefit for children under 18, funding the CleanBC climate plan and capital investments in infrastructure around the province are positive elements of BC Budget 2019, but more ambitious action is still needed for middle and low income British Columbians, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – BC Office.
TORONTO—Cities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area facing growing demands for public services and infrastructure, and a provincial government vowing to cut spending, should turn to a regional sales tax to boost their bottom line, says a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario (CCPA-ON) office.
This paper looks at how much revenue could be raised from a sales tax in the City of Toronto or in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It provides an example of an enhancement to the sales tax credit to mitigate the impact on low-income households and estimates the distributional impact.
In advance of the Ford government’s first Ontario budget, this report examines the fiscal implications of the government’s actions so far, and the contradictions between those actions and repeated declarations on the need for fiscal prudence. The 2019 Ontario budget will reveal where this government is taking public services and finances. While the Ford government has announced that balancing the budget and reducing the province’s debt is a top priority, it has reduced revenues rather than increase them.
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