Funny you should ask. I was checking into this for some related information, and found these wonderful Fiscal Reference Tables.Look on page 14 in the PDF for a breakdown by percentage of GDP, and page 15 for a breakdown by percentage of revenues.
You will note that corporate income tax levels have dropped by about 5 percentage points (on average) post-1970. Individual income tax levels have more than risen to compensate, rising by about 10 percentage points on average. (Both percentage changes in terms of the total budget)
The UIC/EI payroll tax collections have risen steadily since the 1970s.
"Excise taxes and duties" includes the GST and the older MST, but you can see that there is a pronounced drop since 1990.
On page 16 we note that the GST makes up the bulk of such excise tax collections, and in fact, contrary to Michael Wilson's oft-cited claims of being "revenue neutral", it has brought in more money in nominal dollars than the old MST did.
This is because the GST tax base is wider than the MST's.
We may further note that on page 21, the CHST was phased in and the net result has been lower overall transfers to provinces than under the old "spending envelope transfer" method wherein monies so transferred could only be used provincially for their intended purpose.
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posted 28 August 2002 08:40 PM
