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Equalization payments are based on a formula that calculates the difference between the per capita revenue yield that a particular province would obtain using average tax rates and the national average per capita revenue yield at average tax rates. The current formula considers five major revenue sources (see below).
A formal system of equalization payments was first introduced in 1957. [7] [ Notes 1]. The original program had the goal of giving each province the same per-capita revenue as the two wealthiest provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, in three tax bases: personal income taxes, corporate income taxes and succession duties (inheritance taxes).
Equalization payments do not, technically, involve wealthy provinces making payments to poor provinces, although in practice this is what happens, via the federal treasury. As an example, a wealthy citizen in New Brunswick, a so-called "have not" province, pays more into equalization than a poorer citizen in Alberta, a so-called "have" province.
Successive Alberta governments and popular opinion in the province have decried the equalization formula, noting that Alberta has not received funding under the equalization program since 1965. [7] The current equalization formula was implemented shortly after Stephen Harper 's Conservative Party of Canada formed a minority government after the ...
A table listing total GDP (expenditure-based), share of Canadian GDP, population, and per capita GDP in 2023. For illustrative purposes, market income (total income less government transfers) [1] per capita from tax returns is included. (The per capita, rather than per tax filer, measure is chosen for comparability with GDP per capita.)
Canada Health Transfer payments by year since FY2005. Unlike Equalization payments, which are unconditional, the CHT is a block transfer; the funds must be used by provinces and territories for the purposes of "maintaining the national criteria" for publicly provided health care in Canada (as set out in the Canada Health Act).
Alberta and Saskatchewan have made other efforts to distance themselves from Ottawa. Both have frequently criticized the equalization payment scheme as unfair. In his call for "A New Deal with Canada", Moe has signaled a desire for more control over taxation and immigration, and Saskatchewan has introduced plans to create a provincial police force.
Alberta's A grade on its income per capita was based on the fact that it was almost "identical" to that of the "top peer country" in 2016, Ireland. [10] In 2017, Alberta's real per capita GDP—the economic output per person—was $71,092 compared to the Canadian average output per person of $47, 417 and Prince Edward Island at $32,123 per ...