The best and worst major cities for business investment have been identified in a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute and Saint John doesn’t fare well.
The business tax burdens are compared in 10 cities across the country. The report finds the overall highest tax burdens to be in Saint John, Charlottetown and Montreal, with Montreal having the most burdensome local taxes.
As for the most competitive overall business tax environments, Saskatoon and Calgary still lead the way but Calgary increasingly lags behind Saskatoon as Alberta’s business tax environment deteriorates.
Looking only at provincial and federal taxes, the largest burdens are in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario. In all these provinces, provincial business property taxes are one of the leading barriers to new business investment.
The Institute argues there’s potential investment benefits of reducing the burden of business taxation, especially business property taxation of which the highest percentage can be found in Saint John.
