By the Numbers: Tax Cuts 101
Ottawa – March 7, 2014 – "Cut Taxes!" has been the battle cry for ultra-conservative politicians and governments but who ends up winning? The reality is that tax cuts have costs of their own — like crumbling infrastructure, wait times for surgery, overcrowded classrooms, and fewer jobs created to mention just a few of the costs to the public good. A recent study released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that as governement tax revenues have declined, it is everyday working people who pay the cost of tax cuts, while the wealthy and corporations get richer still.
- 70 years
The last time Canadian federal tax revenues have been this low (as a share of the economy).
- 29%
Top federal personal income tax rate for anyone earning from $136,270 to you name it. In 1981, the rate for anyone earning $119,000 or more (1981 dollars) was 43 per cent.
- $2.5 billion
Estimated additional revenue that could be available to finance expanded public and social services in 2015 if the federal government adopted a new tax bracket of 35 per cent for incomes over $250,000.
- $6 billion
Eventual annual loss in revenue that could result from the federal government’s 2011 proposal to double the limit for Canadians who can afford to shelter money into the Tax Free Savings Account, which now has an annual limit of $5,500.
- $6.1 billion
Estimated loss in annual revenue when the federal government cut the corporate income tax rate in 2011.
- 5 times more
Every dollar spent on public services or invested in public infrastructure generates an average of five times more jobs and immediate economic activity as a dollar lost to corporate tax cuts.
- $9.8 billion
Estimated annual new revenue that could be generated if Canada’s federal corporate tax rate was restored to 22 per cent (the 2006 rate was 22.1 per cent).
- $1 billion
Estimated average new revenue if the corporate income tax rate on the oil, gas and minerals sector was restored to the 2002 rate.
- $1.75 billion
Estimated annual new revenue that could be generated if the federal government increased the small business tax rate from 11 per cent to 15 per cent.
- $8.4 billion
New net revenue expected from treating capital gains income as you would employment income, adjusting for inflation, behavioral and other factors.
- $10 billion
Estimated Canadian public revenue lost in cash sheltered through tax avoidance (popularly known as tax havens) every year.