Federal Budget 2016 — Incremental, Not Fundamental Tax Changes

On March 22, 2016 the Minister of Finance tabled Budget 2016, the first budget of the current government's mandate. As telegraphed by the title, "Growing the Middle Class," Budget 2016 contains a variety of measures to assist families, youth, students, the unemployed, seniors, First Nations communities and the environment. Consistent with previous rumours, an important component of the government's plan is to facilitate economic growth by improving Canada's infrastructure. Budget 2016 proposes $120 billion of infrastructure spending over 10 years. The result of these and other proposed fiscal measures is a $29.4-billion deficit for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Although Budget 2016 proposes changes to address perceived tax leakage, it does not propose increased tax rates beyond those previously announced in December 2015.