Still High: Marginal Effective Tax Rates on Low-Income Families

Most federal and provincial government benefits for families with children are sharply income-tested. Reductions in these benefits, as family income rises, mean that low-income families face much higher effective tax rates than most others do, and deny such families the full benefit of the broad-based tax rate relief other Canadians have enjoyed in recent years.social policy, Marginal Effective Tax Rates, tax relief initiatives

Sales Tax Reform in Ontario: The time is Right

Putting an end to Ontario’s archaic retail sales tax and adopting a value-added tax like the GST would sharply lower the effective tax rate on new business investment and offer the province a much-needed economic boost.sales tax, VAT, consumer prices

What's My METR? Marginal Effective Tax Rates Are Down - But Not for Everyone: The Ontario Case

The marginal effective tax rate (METR) on personal income, explain the authors, measures the impact, on take-home pay, of federal and provincial income taxes combined with the impact of reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits as individual or family income rises. These income-tested credits and benefits mostly target financial support to low- and middle-income families with children, or to low-income seniors. As their income rises past prescribed thresholds, clawbacks and reductions begin, raising the METR on each dollar of incremental income above the threshold. Policymakers interested in keeping down METRs overall, say the authors, should consider reinvigorating the personal income tax relief imperative, rather than implementing or expanding targeted benefits that make general tax relief more difficult to achieve.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, marginal effective tax rate (METR), Province of Ontario

Saver's Choice: Comparing the Marginal Effective Tax Burdens on RRSPs and TFSAs

Canada’s graduated personal income tax leads most taxpayers to expect higher tax rates when they are working than when they are living on lower incomes from their retirement savings. Yet for many people, marginal effective tax rates on income from retirement savings are higher than those they face during working life. Comparing marginal effective tax rates across income levels suggests that many Canadians with savings in tax-deferred vehicles, like Registered Retirement Savings Plans, should put more future saving in tax-prepaid savings plans, particularly Tax Free Savings Accounts.Pension Papers, Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), marginal effective tax rates (METRs)

Western METRics: Marginal Effective Tax Rates in the Western Provinces

What impact do the tax systems of Canada’s Western provinces have on families’take-home pay and seniors’ pension income, and how does it compare to other provinces? This report answers the question by looking at marginal effective tax rates (METRs) on personal income, which measure the impact of federal and provincial income taxes combined with reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, marginal effective tax rates (METRs), Canada, Canadian western provinces

Ontario’s Green Energy “Fee”: The Trouble with Taxation through Regulation

Canadian provincial governments have broad authority to impose direct taxes by passing enabling legislation in their respective legislatures. Governments may also use regulation to set fees, for example, to recover the cost of services they provide, but cannot use regulation to impose taxes that raise general revenue. Doing so would be unconstitutional. Governments nonetheless sometimes attempt to raise revenue by imposing levies that are deliberately mislabelled as “fees” – past efforts to do so have exposed provincial governments to successful constitutional challenges. This e-brief examines problematic example: the Ontario government recently ordered the Ontario Energy Board to impose a “fee” to be used to fund activities of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure; this fee is quite likely an unconstitutional tax.Governance and Public Institutions, Ontario Energy Board, Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), taxation, regulation, unconstitutional tax

The Time is Still Right for BC’s HST

British Columbia is on the right track with its controversial move to a harmonized sales tax (HST), according to this report. The authors say the shift to a value-added tax mirrors patterns in most of the developed world, and helped move the province from being a high tax, investment-unfriendly jurisdiction, to one which is domestically and internationally competitive – a more attractive home for investment and jobs. Consumption taxes like the HST in BC impose smaller burdens on the economy, per dollar of government revenue, than alternatives such as old-style retail sales taxes or taxes on personal and business incomes. For this and other reasons, conclude the authors, BC residents are well served by the new HST.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, British Columbia (Province), harmonized sales tax (HST)

What Has Happened to Quebecers’ Marginal Effective Tax Rates?

More than a decade after Quebec and the federal government implemented significant personal income tax rate reductions, what has happened to Quebecers’ take-home pay? This paper answers the question by looking at marginal effective tax rates (METRs) on personal income, which measure the impact of federal and provincial income taxes combined with the impact of reductions and clawbacks of income-tested tax credits and benefits. Income-tested credits and benefits mostly target financial support to low-to-middle income families with children and to low-income seniors. However, clawbacks and rate reductions apply to those credits and benefits as incomes rise above set thresholds, raising METRs for those income groups and family types. Overall, METRs are lower than a decade ago, but for many low-to-middle income Quebec families with children, they are higher. The province’s residents generally face the highest tax rates in the country, with an average METR in 2011 exceeding the national average by four percentage points.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, Province of Quebec, marginal effective tax rates (METRs)

International Policy Responses to the Financial Crisis: A Canadian Perspective

The relative soundness of the Canadian domestic financial system throughout the crisis suggests that Canada’s regulatory framework does not require a major overhaul. But Canada could benefit if other countries introduced reforms to improve their macroeconomic stability. Other reforms are needed.international policy, monetary policy, Bank of Canada

Marking to Market for Financial Institutions: A Common Sense Resolution

Debate has intensified in recent years on the advantages and disadvantages of moving towards a full mark-to-market accounting system for banks and insurance companies. The debate has been heated by moves by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board to harmonize accounting standards across countries. Proponents contend that mark-to-market accounting has the advantage of reflecting the relevant value of financial institution balance sheets, allowing regulators, investors and other users of accounting information to better assess their risk profile. Opponents counter that mark-to-market accounting leads to excessive and artificial volatility, especially when regulatory standards such as bank capital ratios are tied to reported accounting numbers.mark-to-market accounting, accounting standards, financial markets