Tax Cuts North of the Border

America traditionally has enjoyed a competitive advantage over Canada, but the Conservative government in Ottawa has announced addtional tax cuts, including reductions in the corporate rate. The rest of the world is responding to tax competition, and the high corporate tax rate in the US is becoming an ever‐​larger problem for American companies in the global marketplace. Unfortunately, there is no groundswell — or even idle gossip — for a reduction in America’s punitive corporate tax. Tax​-news​.com reports on the new tax cuts in Canada: 

Jim Flaherty, Canadian Minister of Finance, has announced that he will table the second budget of Canada’s Conservative administration under Prime Minister Stephen Harper on March 19, 2007. …Key tax measures contained in the 2006 budget included the long‐​promised 1% cut in Goods and Services Tax to 6%, a 2% cut in the general corporate tax rate by 2010, eliminating the corporate surtax on all corporations by 2008, axing the federal capital tax, and increasing the amount of income eligible for the lowest rate of corporate tax for small businesses. In addition, this bottom rate will be reduced by 1% to 11% by 2009.