Why we have deficits—in good times as well as bad + MORE Feb 28th

After its initial proposals for private corporations tax reform were panned last year as an assault on small businesses, the Liberals have unveiled revamped changes in Tuesday’s budget they say will target only the wealthiest three per cent of private corporations.

Seniors, low-income workers will benefit from new budget measures

 (asiseeit)
The 2018 Federal Budget was tabled this week and had a few small provisions that would help Canadian families. Here are the five things families need to know:
1. The Canadian Child Benefit will be indexed to inflation starting July 2018.
2. In the previous budget you were able to take additional time off for parental and caregiver care and get the EI Caregivers Benefit. This has now been extended to include maternity and sickness benefits.
3. You will be able to open an RESP and claim the $500 per year Learning Bond at the same time that you apply for a birth certificate for your child. This will automatically enroll children born into low-income families for the grant.
4. As of June of 2019, the government will offer five additional weeks of “use-it-or-lose-it” EI Parental Sharing Benefits when both parents commit to sharing parental leave. It’s available to all two-parent families, including adoptive and same-sex couples. If you’re going for the standard parental leave option of 55% of EI benefits over 12 months, you’ll have a total of 40 weeks of leave instead of just 35…

Canada’s banks are the latest to beat profit estimates, but the promising numbers aren’t being reflected in stock increases

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Federal Budget 2018 FULL COVERAGE »

Minister of Finance Bill Morneau speaks to media after meeting with private sector economists, in Toronto on Friday, February 16, 2018. (Christopher Katsarov/CP)
Mark Milke is author of Tax Me I’m Canadian!: A Taxpayer’s Guide To Your Money And How Politicians Spend It.
If you want to understand why the federal government has clocked deficits in every single year since the 2008/09 financial crisis, save one (2015), and why there won’t be another black-ink budget until at least the mid-2020s, look at the pre-budget picture with Finance Minister Bill Morneau where he changes his shoes…