Shadow Budget 2013: More Belt-tightening for Ottawa; Measures to Spur Growth

TORONTO, March 18, 2013 /CNW/ – The C.D. Howe Institute’s 2013 Shadow
Budget, released today, protects Canada from near-term economic and
fiscal risks by accelerating the federal government’s planned return to
budget surpluses, and promoting reforms that will boost longer-term
economic growth. In “Prudence and Opportunity: A Shadow Federal Budget
for 2013,” authors Alexandre Laurin and William Robson show how Ottawa
can achieve budget surplus by 2014/15, a year ahead of plan, through
further belt-tightening in the government’s own operations, while
reshaping federal finances to support work, saving, investment, and
international trade.

A key focus of the Shadow Budget is further control of Ottawa’s
operating costs. It proposes to reduce the number of federal employees
from planned levels, and limit mounting compensation costs per employee
by containing taxpayers’ contributions to pension and other
under-funded post-retirement benefits. It would also trim net subsidies
to Crown corporations and “tax expenditures” – programs delivered
through the tax system.

The Shadow Budget also proposes reforms that have low or zero net costs
and will boost Canada’s economic dynamism. Among them:

        --  a revenue-neutral one-percentage point shift from
            personal-income to consumption taxation, which will promote
            income growth and help provincial finances;

        --  a global strategy for lower across-the-board tariffs on imports
            to benefit consumers and make Canadian businesses more
            competitive; and,

        --  measures to help Canadians save and improve their prospects for
            secure retirement.

“By building on Canada’s recent relative success, this Shadow Budget
will protect Canadians from the risks of excessive government
borrowing, and promote the private prosperity and public programs that
ensure Canadians’ economic future,” said William Robson.

For the report go to: http://www.cdhowe.org/prudence-and-opportunity-a-shadow-federal-budget-for-2013/21038

SOURCE C.D. Howe Institute