Donald Trump promised to govern for America's forgotten men and women; yet he promoted a tax reform plan on Wednesday that independent analysts say does the exact opposite, transferring tens of billions of dollars in wealth up the income ladder...
The U.S.'s currently high corporate taxes would be reduced to a marginal effective rate of about 21.7 per cent, combining federal and state taxes. That's just a shade higher than Canada's federal-provincial combined marginal-effective rate of 20 per cent.
That would be a big change; Canadian companies currently enjoy a nearly 15 percentage point effective tax advantage over their U.S. competitors.
"Any ... advantage we might have had will be erased," said Brett House, Scotiabank's deputy chief economist...
The chief economist at BMO says there would be a dual effect on Canada. On the one hand, he anticipates a boost in short-term spending and growth, and an increase in the U.S. dollar, all of which could boost Canadian exports. On the other hand, he said Canada could lose its long-term advantage on corporate taxes, compounded by uncertainty on the trade front...
This is excerpted from 3 December 2017 edition of BNN.