2011 Federal Budget
Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty today tabled the 2011 Federal Budget (the “Budget”) entitled “A Low Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth”. We are pleased to provide our summary of tax measures contained in the Budget.
There were no new general income tax rate changes for individuals or businesses and previously announced corporate income tax rate reductions were left intact. With respect to business tax measures, some industry specific changes were proposed, and, with respect to personal tax measures, a number of new or enhanced tax credits were announced.
Finance Minister Flaherty’s commitment to keeping taxes low was coupled with a greater attention to preserving the tax base by addressing a number of tax reduction approaches that may have been used by taxpayers.
From a fiscal perspective, the Budget forecasts a deficit of $40.5 billion for 2011, $29.6 billion for 2012, $19.4 billion for 2013 and a balanced budget by 2015 followed by surpluses in future years.
The Opposition leaders have stated that they will not support the Budget. As a result, the current federal political reality creates considerable uncertainty as to whether the Budget will be voted on, passed or defeated by Parliament and whether a federal election is impending.
Our summary of tax highlights contained in the Budget follows.