Services/Departments Research "Tax Facts" Taxes and Spending in CanadaTAX FACT:
Spending on public programs like health care and education is at
its lowest level in 25 years. Repairing those programs, and
investing in new ones (like child care or pharmacare), must be the
first priority.
Taxes didn't increase in the 1990s - unlike previous decades in
Canada. But government support for public programs was cut back
dramatically. Spending on public programs fell from almost 45
percent of GDP to less than 35 percent, and it's still falling -
despite large government surpluses, which totaled over $30 billion
in 1999. Canadians now only receive 75 cents in services for every
dollar they pay in taxes. Governments must reinvest the surpluses
in public programs.
Source: CAW Research from Statistics Canada, "Canadian Economic
Observer."
