Attempting to fight high deficits while maintaining high tax rates will reduce the province’s economic growth prospects
By Alex Whalen and Tegan Hill The Fraser Institute Due largely to COVID-19, the big banks project negative growth for Nova Scotia’s economy in 2020, ranging from -5.5 per cent to -7.4 per cent. Without a strong rebound, such a steep recession could have a lasting impact on living standards in the province and Maritime…
With everyone’s attention riveted on COVID-19, it’s important to remember there are still unrelated bad policy ideas that could become legislation. The Alberta government recently convened an expert panel to examine what’s widely being called Alberta’s car insurance problem. As is usually the case in these types of matters, the problem seems to be largely…
Our high income tax rates discourage productive economic activity and put Canada at a competitive disadvantage
By Jake Fuss and Tegan Hill The Fraser Institute On July 8, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will release a “snapshot” of federal finances, the first such update since the COVID-19 crisis began. The government may also soon look to raise taxes to try to increase government revenue, either to finance new spending…
The food sector has never been recession-proof. But COVID-19 may show us that it’s immune to deflationary pressures
Despite a negative inflation rate overall, recent Statistics Canada numbers tell us we’re in for a wild ride at the grocery store. While the general inflation rate sits at -0.2 per cent, the food inflation rate is at 3.4 per cent. In December, Canada’s Food Price Report predicted a food inflation rate of about 4.0…
The notion that we can pile on debt ad infinitum is at the very least counterintuitive. In fact, it just seems reckless
Canada’s federal and provincial governments have rightfully focused on doing all they can to support people and businesses idled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to keep people working where possible. But most advocates of aggressive spending always knew there would come a day of fiscal reckoning, in which we’d have to figure out how to…
An accounting expert offers a wealth of advice – starting with not letting your net worth define your self-worth
People struggling to pay their debts in a crippled COVID-19 economy can’t avoid tough choices but shouldn’t let it crush them, says a University of Alberta financial expert. Feelings of fear, frustration or shame can overwhelm the clear-headed thinking needed to tackle tough times, but try not to internalize it, advised Mike Maier, an accounting…
By Jake Fuss and Milagros Palacios The Fraser Institute Have you ever wondered how much you actually pay in taxes each year? While tax returns help us understand how much income tax we pay, it’s difficult for most Canadians to calculate their total tax bill. In Canada we pay many taxes to the federal, provincial…
By Aaron Wudrick and Franco Terrazzano Canadian Taxpayers Federation Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has chosen to make life more expensive for Canadians by increasing the federal carbon tax by 50 per cent amidst the COVID-19 economic and health crisis. Meanwhile, governments around the world are moving in the opposite direction because hiking taxes during a…
At the heart of the COVID-19 crisis sits the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. and its low-income borrowers
The shutdowns ordered by Canadian governments to slow the spread of COVID-19 have caused unemployment to leap. And put mortgages in peril. Many of the millions of workers laid off have been low-income and lower-middle-income earners. They’re just the sort of people who qualify for home mortgages insured by the federal Canada Mortgage and Housing…
Whether on corporate income, labour, international trade or anything else, taxes in Canada impose a huge economic cost
As Canadians prepare their tax returns, it’s fair to ask if we get good value for all the taxes we pay. We have a little extra time to ponder this, since the federal government has given Canadians another month to file tax returns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, to June. 1. So do…
Hedge and private-equity funds, mortgage lenders, and money-market funds provide accessible sources of credit
By Paz Gómez Research associate Frontier Centre for Public Policy Shadow banking is growing by leaps and bounds in Canada. It’s a C$1.5-trillion industry that expanded by 30 per cent between 2015 and 2017, according to a recent Bank of Canada report. The banking establishment fears a challenge to its power, but consumers benefit from greater…
Although real estate is what economists call a 'lagging indicator', it appears that the first signs of a real slowdown are starting to be felt, especially in Canada's largest housing markets. After the initial response to news about the spread of Covid-19, which entailed drops in traffic on real estate platforms like Point2 Homes and…
Tax relief is instantaneous. Money is simply left in the hands of those who need it. There’s no application to be processed
As Canadians stay home to keep their communities safe in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, millions of people are out of work and countless businesses have closed their doors. It’s an unprecedented situation. Never before have governments deliberately put their economies into a coma in order to fight a health pandemic. And with the…
It’s tax season in our family medicine clinic. Seriously. You might think it’s coronavirus all the time in family practice these days. But, being family doctors, we see the full picture of health – what causes illness, what prevents it, and what keeps us happy and well. And that’s why we’re excitedly preparing for the…
An ETF is a low-cost mutual-like fund that trades on the stock market, with a significantly different fee structure
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) seem to be all the rage. There are more than 600 ETFs traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and it seems like new ones are being created almost every day. An ETF is basically a diversified investment pool that’s very similar to a mutual fund, with the exception that they’re sold or…