Making sense of public dollars : Ontario government revenue, spending and debt

Since the release of the report by the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services in 2012 – in which economist Don Drummond illustrated the immense fiscal challenges facing the province – the Ontario government has made a concerted effort to address the province’s growing debt through deficit- reduction measures. [...] Furthermore, after the books interest rates, which may rise in the predicted in the fall of 2009 at the are balanced, the government pledges coming years. [...] In turn, Ministry of Infrastructure for that the government must closely monitor year and nearly a third of the amount the deficit and ensure debt is being spent by the former Ministry of used toward prosperity-enhancing Economic Development and Innova- activities. [...] Taxation equity refers to the income is twice as large in all other individuals in Ontario by changing notion of fairness and how the burden provinces as in Ontario for both the rate of return for investments and of a tax is carried by individuals with periods (exhibit 5). [...] The Institute was pleased ginal tax rate on capital investment proposed a number of changes to the when Ontario adopted the harmon- after tax reduction measures, such Ontario tax system to improve ized sales tax (HST) in 2010, which as credits, depreciation allowances, competitiveness and future produc- combined the PST and the federal and deductions, are factored in.