Learning, Not Leaning: What Canada’s Tax Policy Should Take from the US
Canada has the power to shape its own competitiveness by making itself an attractive destination for investment this 2025 budget season.
Cristina Enache writes on the economics of tax policy and is the author of the Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index. She was formerly the Director of Research at Civismo, an economic research organization based in Spain. She also served as head of research at Institución Futuro, a regional think tank based in Navarra in northern Spain. She is also currently Secretary-General at the World Taxpayers Associations and General Manager of the Spanish Taxpayers Union, which she joined in 2016.
Cristina has a degree in economics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and a master’s degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Navarra.
Canada has the power to shape its own competitiveness by making itself an attractive destination for investment this 2025 budget season.
As energy prices have declined, European countries have switched the focus of their windfall profits taxes—a one-time tax levied on a company or industry when economic conditions result in large, unexpected profits—from energy providers to the banking and financial sector.
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If Canada doesn’t make full expensing provisions permanent, it will drop to 13th place in the capital cost recovery ranking, once provisions expire in 2028.
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Although sometimes overlooked in discussions about corporate taxation, capital allowances play an important role in a country’s corporate tax base and can impact investment decisions—with far-reaching economic consequences.
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Rather than adopt temporary policies that phase out and expire, policymakers should focus their efforts on long-term reforms to support investment.
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The ongoing economic uncertainty from Russia’s war in Ukraine, economic recovery, supply chain disruptions, and rising interest rates have highlighted the importance of business investment.
30 min read
Different taxes have different economic effects, so policymakers should always consider how tax revenue is raised and not just how much is raised.
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Developed countries raise tax revenue through individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, social insurance taxes, taxes on goods and services, and property taxes—the combination of which determines how distortionary or neutral a tax system is.
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Without businesses as their taxpayers and tax collectors, governments would not have the resources to provide even the most basic services.
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On average, businesses in the OECD are liable for collecting, paying, and remitting more than 85 percent of the total tax collection.
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Twenty-four out of the 35 European countries covered in this map currently levy estate, inheritance, or gift taxes.
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Policymakers should aim for neutral tax policies that support stable revenues like VATs and avoid inviting trade conflicts with discriminatory and economically harmful policies like DSTs.
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Wealth taxes not only collect little revenue and create legal uncertainty, but an OECD report argues that they can also disincentivize entrepreneurship, harming innovation and long-term growth.
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In a recent survey regarding companies’ barriers to conducting business in the EU single market, VAT ranked first. Policymakers should invest in reforming VAT systems to close both compliance and policy gaps in ways that improve the overall efficiency of their tax systems.
7 min read
The worldwide average statutory corporate tax rate has consistently decreased since 1980 but has leveled off in recent years. In the US, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act brought the country’s statutory corporate income tax rate from the fourth highest in the world closer to the middle of the distribution.
18 min read
Even though energy prices have declined from their recent peak, the United Kingdom is one of the few countries in Europe continuing to rely on windfall profits taxes to support households with the rising cost of living.
4 min read
Spain’s central government is considering making its windfall taxes on energy companies and the banking sector permanent.
6 min read
The 2024 Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index allows policymakers and taxpayers to evaluate and measure how their regions’ tax systems compare.
7 min read
The flawed design of these windfall profits taxes has created problems in countries that implemented them.
4 min read
Rather than pursuing temporary policies, policymakers should implement long-term, pro-growth tax reforms that stimulate economic activity and incentivize energy diversification by supporting private investment through full expensing.
19 min read