Over the past 30 years, sick days have risen in Canada’s workforce, overall, raising important questions about why days lost owing to reported illness are climbing, and how demographic and institutional change may have affected reported rates and may do so in the future. The data show striking...

Low income seniors face extremely heavy tax burdens across Canada, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Who Loses Most? The Impact of Taxes and Transfers on Retirement Incomes,” authors Finn Poschmann and Alexandre Laurin show that seniors can be hit hard by taxes and benefit...

Public alarms have sounded over the rising holdings of cash on Canadian businesses’ balance sheets. Critics have alleged the hoards reflect a market failure or collective business failure to invest productively in new machinery and equipment. A closer look at the situation suggests more to the...

Ontario faces a $19.7 billion unfunded liability at its Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) based on a fair-value accounting approach. In the report, the authors say the WSIB, which levies employer premiums intended to fund benefits for employees injured in the workplace, has a problem that...

Policymakers should not overreact to perceptions of corporate ‘dead money’, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “It’s Alive! Corporate Cash and Business Investment,” author Finn Poschmann points out that corporate cash holdings, as a share of output, have not grown since...

Unusual economic and political circumstances surround the framing of the 2009 federal budget. A period of global spending outrunning productive capacity has ended with financial crisis and recession in much of the world, Canada included. The sudden slump has prompted demand for, and expectations...

Debate has intensified in recent years on the advantages and disadvantages of moving towards a full mark-to-market accounting system for banks and insurance companies. The debate has been heated by moves by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting...

Putting an end to Ontario’s archaic retail sales tax and adopting a value-added tax like the GST would sharply lower the effective tax rate on new business investment and offer the province a much-needed economic boost.

Canadian provincial governments have broad authority to impose direct taxes by passing enabling legislation in their respective legislatures. Governments may also use regulation to set fees, for example, to recover the cost of services they provide, but cannot use regulation to impose taxes that...

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s March 19 budget included important — and unexpected — proposals that would dramatically reshape income tax rules affecting foreign investment by Canadian corporations. The budget’s proposal to withdraw tax deductibility for interest expenses...