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2012 Annual Global Tax Competitiveness Ranking – A Canadian Good News Story

Since 2000, Canada has been remarkably successful in building a more competitive corporate tax system, principally by lowering tax rates and broadening the tax base. Canada’s marginal effective tax rate (METR) is now the lowest, and hence the most tax-competitive among the G-7, the 20th most tax-competitive in the 34-member OECD, and 57th among the 90 countries surveyed in this paper. The result has been greater investment and improved economic growth despite recessionary pressures. In particular, provincial sales tax harmonization with the GST has heightened Ontario’s competitiveness and promises to do the same for PEI, the latest convert to the cause. However, progress has not been uniform. Some provincial governments have lost focus by raising rates or introducing tax preferences that narrow the base, inevitably harming business efficiency. British Columbia’s decision to replace the new Harmonized Sales Tax with the old retail sales tax will cost it dearly, especially when it comes to public spending. On the other hand, corporate tax rate reductions of more than 30 percent (since 2000) have, contrary to the critics’ cries, failed to make an appreciable dent in tax revenues thanks to multinationals’ habit of shifting profits to Canada to take advantage of lower rates. This paper, in providing a candid snapshot of Canadian taxation measured against 89 other nations, serves as an invaluable foundation for understanding how far this country has come, and what its next steps should be.