Special edition: Federal Budget Recap
Tax Highlights from the 2019 Federal Budget
Reprinted with permission from CI Investments
On March 19, 2019, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled the Liberal government’s highly anticipated budget – the final one before the October 2019 election.
After accounting for Budget 2019 proposals, the budgetary balance is expected to show deficits of $14.9 billion in 2018-2019 and $19.8 billion in 2019-2020. Over the remainder of the forecast horizon, deficits are expected to decline gradually from $19.7 billion in 2020-2021 to $9.8 billion in 2023-2024. The federal debt-to-GDP ratio is also expected to decline every year over the forecast horizon, reaching 28.6% by 2023–2024.
Budgetary revenues are expected to increase by 6.7% in 2018-2019. Over the remainder of the forecast horizon, revenues are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 3.5%, in line with projected growth in nominal GDP.
There were no changes to personal or corporate income tax rates.
The following is a summary of tax changes announced in the budget. Please note that these changes are proposals until passed into law by the federal government.
