OTTAWA – Canada is easily in the first quartile – and well ahead of its G8 competitors – in terms low corporate taxes and the ease with which they can be paid, according to new comparison of global tax regimes.
The joint study by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC), the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation ranks Canada 39th out of 183 countries on its tax rate, and 11th in ease of paying taxes.
The critical finding is that Canada’s 28.8 per cent overall corporate tax was well below that of the United States (44.8 per cent), and other advanced economies like Germany, the United Kingdom and France.
On ease of paying taxes, including the number filings required each year and the time it took to file, Canada ranked well ahead of all its G8 competitors.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has sought to brand Canada as a 25 per cent, combined federal-provincial corporate tax jurisdiction, and in January fulfilled Ottawa’s end of the bargain by reducing the federal rate to 15 per cent.
Canada’s efforts on the corporate tax front have not gone unnoticed. Last year, Forbes magazine ranked Canada as the best place in the world to do business.
The PwC survey conducted between September and December was based on responses from 1,258 business leaders from 60 countries.
According to the results, 44 per cent of corporate chief executives said tax policy was a significant factor in their decision to locate operations.
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