The genesis of this set of five papers on prefilled (or pre-populated) personal income tax returns was the observation that the Québec government had initiated in December 2007 a prefilled personal income tax program. A target group of 100,000 tax filers, 80% of whom were age 65 or older were to receive a prefilled form for the 2007 tax year.

The Fraser Institute annually calculates Tax Freedom Day in order to provide a comprehensive and easily understood indicator of the overall tax burden faced by the average Canadian family. Tax Freedom Day is the day in the year by which the average Canadian family has earned enough money to pay the taxes imposed on it by the three levels of Canadian government: federal, provincial, and local. In 2011, Canadians started working for themselves on June 6. That is, Canadians worked until June 5 to pay the total tax bill imposed on them by all levels of government. This represents a two day additional burden over 2010 when Tax Freedom Day fell on June 4.

This report is the third in the Fraser Institute’s Continental Energy Strategy for North America series. It provides a current and comprehensive overview of the electricity sector in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and an assessment of the required infrastructure development over the next decade.