Who was Barbara Mitchell?
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Effect of Corporate Income and Payroll Taxes on the Wages

While some advocate for increases in corporate taxes as a means to deal with current fiscal challenges, The Effect of Corporate Income and Payroll Taxes on the Wages of Canadian Workers, calculates the monetary impact of such a policy on the average worker. It finds that, after controlling for other factors (such as a worker’s age, education, occupation, and industry), a one per cent increase in the corporate income tax rate reduces the average hourly wage rate of Canadian workers by between 0.15 and 0.24 per cent in the following year.

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pipelines or policies

Pipelines or Policies: What’s Behind the Fall in Investor Confidence in Alberta, spotlights recent oil industry tribulations — such as the Keystone XL pipeline announcement and the Alberta government’s decision to move forward with an energy royalty review — to determine what events have had a greater effect on investor perceptions.

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Are the Provinces Really Shortchanged by Federal Transfers?

Are the Provinces Really Shortchanged by Federal Transfers? finds that, contrary to the complaints of some premiers, the amount of funding Ottawa is providing to provinces is actually at an all-time high. Specifically, between 2005/06 and 2015/16, federal transfers to the provinces and territories increased by a total of 62.3 per cent—a rate much higher than required to offset both increasing overall prices (inflation) and a growing population (31.6 per cent).

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Income Mobility: The Rich and Poor in Canada

Income Mobility, The Rich and Poor in Canada, finds that the notion that the rich are gaining at the expense of low income Canadians is false and contradicted by data on income mobility – the fact that people’s incomes change over time.

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Cost of Government Debt in Canada, 2016

The Cost of Government Debt in Canada spotlights the interest costs incurred by the levels of total government debt (federal, provincial and local) in Canada, examining the substantial increases in government debt — throughout the country — since the 2008/09 recession. It finds that Canadian governments (federal, provincial and local) spent $60.8 billion on debt interest payments in 2014/15—virtually equivalent to total public spending on K-12 education in Canada.

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Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2015 Generosity Index measures donations to registered charities claimed on personal income tax returns in Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories, the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. This year’s results reveal that fewer Canadians are donating to registered charities—and those who give are giving less.

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The Economic Freedom of North America 2015 report uses data from 2013 (the most recent year available) to rank jurisdictions based on their levels of economic freedom (measured in size of government, taxation, regulation, rule of law, etc.). It spotlights the 50 U.S. states, 32 Mexican states and 10 Canadian provinces.

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