Mr. Dusseault—
Evidence of meeting #139 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was debt.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #139 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was debt.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:15 p.m.
Liberal
7:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
We learned that for the estimates to fund this budget, the government is going to seek what's called a central vote for about $7 billion worth of spending. Typically when governments seek authorization, they do it on an item-by-item basis, by department and agency, meaning that the money has to go where it is voted.
Will this central vote specifically and legally commit the government to spending the $7 billion in amounts in the budget on the agencies and departments for which they are set out, or will Treasury Board have the ability to move that money across agencies and departments?
7:15 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Very respectfully, I think it's probably better that when the main estimates are ultimately tabled, TBS officials speak to the construct and engineering around that—
7:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We know one question that Pierre is going to ask the Treasury Board.
Mr. Dusseault, last question.
7:15 p.m.
NDP
Pierre-Luc Dusseault NDP Sherbrooke, QC
I will be brief, Mr. Chair.
My question deals with the government's forecasted revenues, according to the 2018 budget statement. The forecast is for a 6% increase in revenue from personal income tax, which represents an increase of almost $10 billion. However, the revenue from corporate income tax shows a decrease of 1.9%, almost 2%, between the amounts in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The economy is growing, which means that companies must be doing well. How do you explain a decrease in revenue from corporate income tax?
7:15 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
It's not that there are less taxes; it's that there are less taxes than were anticipated at the time of the fall update. There is a pullback in the forecast. Part of that is that corporate profits haven't quite played out, in terms of the profit track, as we thought they would in the fall. Likewise, this is usually the time of year where we get to call a number of corporations, namely banks and large resource companies, to get an understanding of how they're going to treat their 2017 tax returns, and more specifically how they're going to carry forward or carry back losses.
The corporate tax regime in Canada is very difficult. We have a very generous ability to take losses and apply them against previous year's taxable income or carry them forward into future years, thus forecasting corporate income taxes is incredibly difficult. Those two factors, the corporate profit track change between the fall update and the budget, and the anticipation of how the losses will be treated in the corporate sector, are what gave rise to the revision in budget 2018.
7:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
At that, we'll have to call it quits.
Thank you very much to all the witnesses for coming forward, and your answers.
The meeting is adjourned.