Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee.
Thank you for inviting me to appear today.
With me today, I have Louis Perrault, director, economic analysis.
My office has published costing notes addressing several measures in part 1 of Bill C‑8. First, we prepared a costing of the measure to increase the eligible educator school supply tax credit from 15% to 25% for eligible teaching supplies of up to $1,000. We found that this measure would cost approximately $7 million in each tax year.
On January 31, we also released a costing of the underused housing tax act measure, which would implement a 1% tax on the value of dwellings owned by non-resident, non-Canadians that are vacant or underused. We estimated that this measure would generate $130 million in tax revenues in 2022‑23 and an estimated total tax revenue of $600 million over the next five years.
We also costed the small businesses air quality improvement tax credit, which would provide a 25% refundable tax credit for the installation or upgrade of ventilation and air filtration systems in small and medium-sized businesses. We estimate that this credit would cost $165 million over the next five years, beginning in the current fiscal year.
Finally, we released a report this morning providing an assessment of house prices relative to a household's capacity to borrow and pay for the purchase of a house in selected Canadian cities. We found that, at the end of 2021, the average house price was more than 50% above what a household earning average income can afford in Hamilton, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa, and between 30% and 45% of what the average household could afford in Vancouver, Victoria and Montreal.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have about our work as a whole. My office and I look forward to reviewing your suggestions on how we can best serve the committee and help you in your work examining Bill C-8 and throughout the 44th Parliament.
Thank you.