Fraser Institute's "Consumer Tax Index" misrepresents reality

Earlier this week the Fraser Institute released a report claiming the average Canadian family’s tax bill has increased by a whopping 1,624% since 1961. The report was widely distributed by several media outlets despite the fact that its conclusions are based on misleading calculations.

 

In a reponse entitled Fraser Institute Tax Index: Half a Century of Fuzzy Math, CCPA research associate Erin Weir shows how average taxes in the report were overstated, and how new public services that account for tax increases were ignored. Click here to read the full commentary.

 

Iglika Ivanova, Public Interest Researcher at the CCPA’s BC Office, also responded to the Fraser Institute's report. In Have taxes really changed all that much over the past century?, Iglika notes that the Fraser Institute did not adjust their numbers for inflation, nor consider that incomes grew over the last half a century, accounting for a rise in tax revenue. Click here to read the full commentary, or check out PolicyNote.ca, the CCPA's blog about BC public policy issues.