CPA Ontario released the report Tax Reform for Growth in Canada in October 2025, with "20 bold, practical recommendations for tax reform". The recommendations include changes for corporate and personal income taxes, simplifying the Income Tax Act, and conducting a "broad review of Canada's tax system". Canada's income tax system has become more and more complicated, and simplifying the system is very important.
On October 6, 2025, the Department of Finance released Modernizing Canada's Budgeting Approach. Some points from this document:
In the House of Commons on September 16, 2025, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced that the Liberals will table a federal budget on Tuesday, November 4th. This was announced in a Department of Finance New Release on September 17, 2025.
For a very helpful summary from tax expert Kim G C Moody of tax policies announced by Conservatives and Liberals, see Tax Policy Updates. This summary includes links to a more detailed summary, from which you can see links to the policies on each party's website.
See each party's costed platform (pdfs), which include a lot more proposals other than tax policy updates: Conservative Plan and Liberal Plan. Won't hurt to monitor the progress!
Department of Finance Budget website
Pre-Budget Consultations to hear from Canadians. This ended March 10, 2025.
Department of Finance draft legislation
House of Commons Sitting Calendar
ParlVU - Live streaming of House of Commons proceedings and public committees. Prior videos can be viewed by going to Calendar-Day/Month and choosing a date on which the House of Commons was in session.
Hansard - official record of what is said by Members of Parliament in the House of Commons - very frustrating/disappointing to read much of the time
Fiscal Monitor - monthly reports
Consolidated Statutes and Regulations of Canada
Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act R.S.C., 1985, C. F-8 - re equalization payments to provinces, health transfers, sales tax harmonization, etc.
Canadian Government News Releases
Department of Finance News Releases
Department of Finance Archived News Releases
Parliamentary Budget Officer - independent analysis to Parliament on the state of the nation's finances, the government's estimates and trends in the Canadian economy; and upon request, estimates the cost of any proposal under Parliament's jurisdiction.
Parliamentary Budget Office COVID-19 Analysis
Government of Canada Infobase - interactive data-visualization tool, information on government finances, people, and results. Contains years worth of federal government data.
2025 Legislation / Fall Budget
2024 Fall Economic Statement - December 16, 2024
2024 Federal Budget - Tuesday, April 16, 2024
2023 Fall Economic Statement - November 21, 2023
2023 Federal Budget - March 28, 2023
2022 Federal Budget & Fall Economic Statement - November 3, 2022
2021 Economic and Fiscal Update - December 14, 2021
2021 Federal Budget - April 19, 2021
2020 Fall Economic Statement - November 30, 2020
2020 Economic and Fiscal Snapshot - July 8, 2020
2019 Federal Budget - March 19, 2019
2018 Fall Economic Statement - November 21, 2018
2018 and Earlier Federal Budgets
Draft Legislation released August 15, 2025 - the Department of Finance is accepting comments on the draft legislative proposals until September 12, 2025.
Many of these proposals were in the 2024 Budget or 2024 Fall Economic Statement, but there have been some changes See the September 2025 Life in the Tax Lane for information on the Trust changes.
For commentary on the draft legislation see:
- KPMG - Finance releases plethora of draft legislation
2025 Budget: On May 14, 2025, the Finance Minister announced that they will not be tabling a 2025 Budget, but instead would provide a fall economic statement later in the year. Not much later, they announced they would provide a 2025 Budget in the fall.
Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses: A June 30, 2025 news release by the Department of Finance announced that draft legislation was issued to ensure that the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses would be tax-free. See Draft legislative proposals and explanatory notes.
Second reading was completed on Thursday, June 12, 2025.
Besides reducing the tax rate for the lowest bracket to 14.5% for 2025 and 14% for 2026, Bill C-4:
What difference will the tax rate reduction make? This depends on how many tax credits a person has. Tax credits are also reduced with a 14.5% or 14% tax rate. The tax reduction is highest for an individual with only the Basic Personal Amount (BPA) tax credit. The lower tax rate will cause a tax increase for those with total non-refundable personal tax credits at line 33500 that are greater than the threshold of the lowest tax bracket. It's not difficult to get up to that threshold when claiming amounts for CPP, EI, and the Canada employment amount, as well as the spousal amount, disability tax credit, and/or caregiver credits.
When the lowest federal tax rate was reduced from 16% to 15% for 2005, most non-refundable personal tax credits were increased to compensate for the lower rate.
After Alberta lowered their lowest tax rate for 2025, they introduced a "supplemental non-refundable tax credit" to compensate for the lower rate.
Contents:
2024 Forecasts of Federal Debt, Deficits, and Annual Interest
2024 FES Personal Income Tax Measures
Exempting the Canada Disability Benefit from Tax
Canada Carbon Rebate Rural Supplement
Northern Residents Deduction Haida Gwaii
Capital Gains Rollover on Investments in Eligible Small Business Corporation (ESBC) shares
2024 FES Business Income Tax Measures
Canada Carbon Rebate For Small Business
Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit for Provincial and Territorial Crown Corporations
EV Supply Chain Investment Tax Credit
Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit – Methane Pyrolysis
Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program
Extension of the Accelerated Investment Incentive and Immediate Expensing Measures
Department of Finance 2024 Fall Economic Statement - on Department of Finance website.
Tax Measures: Supplementary Information
All amounts are in $Billions. Fiscal years end on March 31st.
| Fiscal Year Ending |
Debt | Deficit | Annual Interest |
| 2024 | $1,236.2 | $61.9 | $47.3 |
| 2025 | 1,281.5 | 42.8 | 53.7 |
| 2026 | 1,323.6 | 37.4 | 54.2 |
| 2027 | 1,354.6 | 27.9 | 57.6 |
| 2028 | 1,385.0 | 29.4 | 62.0 |
| 2029 | 1,412.7 | 23.0 | 66.3 |
| 2030 | 1,435.7 | 18.7 | 69.4 |
The above debt amounts are net of financial and non-financial assets. The gross federal debt (total liabilities) at March 31, 2024 is $2,057.8 billion.
Links below are directly to the appropriate section of the FES.
Exempting the Canada Disability Benefit from Tax
The government intends to provide up to $2,400 annually for low-income working-age Canadians who are eligible for the Disability Tax Credit, beginning in July 2025. Under the Income Tax Act currently, this benefit would be included in income for tax purposes, which is used in the calculation of income-tested benefits, and then deducted again to exclude it from taxable income. The FES proposes to exempt these amounts so that they will not be reported on the tax return, so would not affect income-tested benefits.
Canada Carbon Rebate Rural Supplement
Eligibility for this supplement is proposed to be expanded. See the above link for a list of newly eligible areas for 2025-26.
Northern Residents Deduction Haida Gwaii
The FES proposes to re-classify Haida Gwaii from the Intermediate Zone to the Northern Zone, allowing residents to claim up to the maximum value of the deductions, beginning in the 2025 taxation year.
Capital Gains Rollover on Investments in Eligible Small Business Corporation (ESBC) shares
See the above link for details.
Reporting by Non-profit Organizations
Changes are proposed to reporting requirements for NPOs in order to improve transparency, for the 2026 and subsequent taxation years.
Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses
The 2024 FES proposes to modify certain elements of the Canada Carbon Credit design, and to expand the tax credit to cooperative corporations and credit unions, for the 2024-25 and later fuel charge years.
Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit for Provincial and Territorial Crown Corporations
See the above link for details.
EV Supply Chain Investment Tax Credit
The 2024 FES provides the design and implementation details of the refundable tax credit announced by Budget 2024.
Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit – Methane Pyrolysis
The 2024 FES proposes to expand this refundable tax credit to include projects that produce hydrogen from the pyrolysis of natural gas and other eligible hydrocarbons.
Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SRED) Tax Incentive Program
The 2024 FES proposes to increase the expenditure limit for this refundable tax credit, and extend eligibility to eligible Canadian public corporations.
Extension of the Accelerated Investment Incentive and Immediate Expensing Measures
The 2024 FES proposes to fully reinstate the Accelerated Investment Incentive and immediate expensing measures for a 5-year period, with a 4-year phase-out after 2029. Currently these measures are to begin phasing out in 2024, and to be eliminated after 2027. The 2024 first-year allowance does not change from what was previously provided.
There is no plan for a balanced budget at any time in the future. Projected Budgetary Deficits:
See Canada's debt charges are ballooning as Freeland tables a gloomy fall economic statement, which states The federal debt has doubled from $619.3 billion in 2015-16, the first year of Trudeau's government, to $1.2 trillion last year. It's expected to climb to $1.4 trillion by 2028-29.
December 2023 Draft Legislative Proposals and Explanatory Notes
Bill C-59, Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023 - Royal Assent June 20, 2024
Proposed Changes to Underused Housing Tax:
Proposal to Crack Down on Non-Compliant Short-Term Rentals
Introduction of The New Canadian Mortgage Charter. This is not law and will not be enacted into law. It simply provides guidelines that Canadian financial institutions are expected to follow. Most of the rules in it are based on the Guideline on Existing Consumer Mortgage Loans in Exceptional Circumstances, from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.
For information on more tax measures, see Baker Tilly 2023 Fall Economic Statement: Tax Measures.
Department of Finance: 2023 Fall Economic Statement
- above is link to the Federal Budget website.
There was no mention of a change to the capital gains inclusion rate.
Bill C-8, An Act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update, received Royal Assent June 9, 2022, including the following measures:
Bill C-2 An Act to provide further support in response to COVID-19 received Royal Assent December 17, 2021 with the following provisions:
November 24, 2021 News Release re above.
The 2020 Federal Budget was scheduled to be tabled Monday, March 30, 2020, but was postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19. However, 5 bills have been tabled, with 3 receiving Royal Assent.
The 2020-2021 deficit is expected to reach $381.6 billion, and deficits in the billions are expected to continue until at least 2025-2026. There is no mention of debt reduction or balanced budgets.
No changes to personal or corporate income tax were introduced.
See the Video Tax News summary of measures in the Fall Economic Statement.
For more detail, see:
Fall Economic Statement - Department of Finance
- Full Report in pdf format - Table of Contents has hyperlinks to the topics, which is quite helpful. Legislative proposals start at page 200.
- Tax Measures: Supplementary Information
Bill C-14, Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020, was tabled on Dec 2, 2020, to implement measures announced in the Economic Statement. See the News Release. Bill C-14 provides for the government to increase total borrowing under the Borrowing Authority Act to $1.831 trillion. The maximum borrowing allowed in 2018 was $1.168 trillion.
Bill C-14 received Royal Assent on May 6, 2021.
See Parliamentary Budget Officer information on The Borrowing Authority Act and Measures of Federal Debt.
The Throne Speech was delivered on September 23, 2020, outlining in general the government proposals. See a good summary of the proposals prepared by Video Tax News.
See information on Bill C-2 tabled September 24, 2020, which includes 3 benefits to replace CERB, as well as a provision to give the Government authority to spend up to $17.1 billion on specific measures from Oct-Dec 2020.
The Economic and Fiscal Snapshot summarized all COVID-19 financial relief. The deficit is projected to be $343.2 billion for the 2020-21 fiscal year. There were no tax changes announced. We've updated the estimated March 31, 2021 interest-bearing debt amount in our Federal Debt article.
December 20, 2019 Notice of Ways and Means Motion and Explanatory Notes to extend the maturation period of these trusts from eight years to nine years. Trusts that would mature in 2019 would now mature in 2020.
December 9, 2019 Notice of Ways and Means Motion and Explanatory Notes re increases for 2020 and subsequent years to the
- basic personal amount - details of amounts in future years
- spousal amount and
These changes also automatically affect Yukon territorial income tax due to the wording of their Income Tax Act. The Yukon government has not indicated whether they will amend their legislation so that the changes do not affect Yukon territorial tax.
The Detailed Canadian Tax and RRSP Savings Calculator for 2019/2020 has been revised to include the proposed legislation. These proposals are subject to legislative approval. We have included them because the Bloc have indicated they will support the minority government on this change. We have not included the same change for the Yukon territorial income tax yet.
2019 Federal Budget March 19, 2019
2018 Fall Economic Statement November 21, 2018 - on Department of Finance website. Main points:
- No personal income tax changes
- full immediate cost write-off for machinery and equipment purchased after November 20, 2018 and used in the manufacturing and processing of goods
- full immediate cost write-off for specified clean energy equipment purchased after November 20, 2018
- $800 million to be added to the Strategic Innovation Fund over 5 years, with $100 million to be focussed on providing support to the forest sector.
- See November 21, 2018 Notice of Ways and Means Motion and Explanatory Notes for more details.
2018 Federal Budget February 27, 2018 and Subsequent Legislation
2017 Small Business Tax Changes - Tax On Split Income / Income Sprinkling
2018 Federal Budget - Pre-Budget Consultations - on Department of Finance website. No end date for the consultation period has yet been announced.
2017 Fall Economic Statement October 24, 2017
2017 Federal Budget - March 22, 2017 and July 18, 2017 Proposed Tax Changes for Private Corporations
2016 Fall Economic Statement November 1, 2016 - on Department of Finance Budget website
2016 Federal Budget March 22, 2016
Legislative Proposals Prior to 2016 Budget
2015 Federal Budget April 21, 2015
October 2014 Federal Update - new Family Tax Cut, UCCB increased, Child Tax Credit eliminated, Child Care Expense Deduction increased
2014 Federal Budget / Economic Action Plan February 11, 2014
2013 Federal Budget / Economic action plan - March 21, 2013
2012 Federal Budget - March 29, 2012 - and subsequent legislation
2011 Federal Budget - June 6, 2011
2009 Federal Budget - Canada's Economic Action Plan
2008 Federal Budget and 2008 Economic and Fiscal Statement
Revised: October 16, 2025