Some families are struggling due to sticker shock at the grocery store
Thanksgiving is this weekend. With the price of food these days, we’re all wondering how most of us will cope. In partnership with Angus Reid, Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab investigated what Canadian consumers plan to do with their menu over the weekend. In total, 1,503 Canadians were consulted on September 30, 2022, for this…
The total payroll tax bill for each middle-class worker increased by $818 this year alone
Political pundits are twisting themselves into pretzels arguing mandatory Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance payments are not a tax. They’re missing the point: the government is taking too much money from Canadians. If you make $65,000 this year, then the federal government is taking nearly $4,500 directly from your pay through CPP and EI…
Hardworking Ontario families need all the help they can get
If Ontario Premier Doug Ford doesn’t want to be the grinch who stole Christmas, he’ll start working on a plan to make Ontario’s temporary gas tax cut permanent. Ontario drivers are now at the midpoint of the Ford government’s temporary gas tax relief period. Beginning on July 1, the province reduced its gas excise tax…
Almost 24 per cent now cutting back on food purchases, almost 70 per cent of whom are women
While inflation is showing signs of dissipating, food inflation appears to be on a totally different path. Food inflation has outpaced our general inflation rate for over 12 months now. Statistics Canada just announced that the food inflation rate for retail was 10.8 per cent and 7.4 per cent in food service. Canada ranks third…
Both sectors face inflationary pressures but are being dealt with very differently
As anyone who has ever spent time in the kitchen knows, when a pot is boiling over, you do not put a lid on it. You lower the heat. Adding a cover does nothing to reduce the cause of all the excess bubbles and steam. In fact, increasing the pressure within the vessel generates an…
Increases to the Marginal Effective Tax Rate taking even more of your hard-earned money
New Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is correct when he says governments discourage work with taxes and clawbacks. The Marginal Effective Tax Rate (METR) measures what government takes from each new dollar earned in taxes and clawbacks of income-related government benefits. In his leadership acceptance speech and an August 19 video called “Make work pay,” Poilievre…
Ottawa does not fully understand the consequences of its policy
By Nathalie Elgrably-Levy and Valentin Petkantchin The federal government’s new luxury goods tax, which took effect on September 1, targets luxury cars, private jets and yachts. Without originality, it is part of the traditional logic of taxation which aims to “make the rich pay.” However, we often forget the economic, indirect and longer-term effects, which…
The method StatsCan uses to measure inflation bears no relationship to the reality Canadians face
By Nathalie Elgrably-Lévy and Valentin Petkantchin For several months now, rising prices have dominated public consciousness and raised anxiety in most households. Not for decades has Statistics Canada’s monthly inflation rate indicator been awaited with such rapt attention. This indicator is much like a thermometer monitoring a patient’s fever while under observation. Related Stories Food…
Alberta is the only province with no PST, saving its people billions of dollars per year
Here's the good news: the majority of United Conservative Party leadership candidates have pledged not to impose a Provincial Sales Tax (PST) or raise taxes on Albertans. Six UCP leadership candidates signed the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Pledge, which reads: "I will never impose a Provincial Sales Tax and I will not raise taxes." All of…
It’s time for Ottawa politicians to take deficits seriously again
There’s finally some good news for taxpayers: Instead of balancing the budget in 2070, the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s numbers now show Canadians can look forward to a balanced budget in only … wait for it … 20 years. Last year the Canadians Taxpayers Federation used PBO data to show the feds wouldn’t balance the budget…