Ontario 360 Transition Briefings 2022 - FROM L AZY TAX POLICY TO ECONOMIC GROWTH –

Shifting the lens from natural resources to the regulation and taxation of alcohol, Ontario could be said to have the tax equivalent of “Dutch disease.” Let’s call it the “Calvinist disease.”2 Calvinist in that it celebrated the willing embrace of regulation and taxation to restrict the sale and consumption of alcohol in Ontario. [...] The most recent data? The $2.4 billion “dividend” paid by the LCBO into the provincial coffers in 2021 equates to some 13% of the revenue that the Ontario government raises from corporations. [...] The window of opportunity is the 2025 expiration of the “Master Framework Agreement” (MFA) negotiated in 2015 between the government of Ontario and the owners of the Beer Store (TBS). [...] on360.ca | ontario.360@utoronto.ca Page 7 Policy Reforms From 2000 To Today The 2000 Beer Framework Agreement established how the LCBO and the Beer Store would divide up the Ontario beer market for consumers and restaurants.26 It gave TBS a monopoly on the sale of beer in 12 and 24 packages and on the sale of beer in volume to restaurants. [...] Within the limitations of Canada and Ontario’s trade obligations, the LCBO should ensure that it delivers on its mandate to “promote local Ontario products.” The LCBO should retain its role as the “box-store of choice” for the sale of alcohol in the province.