The Tax Recognition of Children in Canada: Exemptions, Credits, and Cash Transfers

Kevin Milligan, Canadian Tax Journal (2016; 64(3))
Child Benefits Tables and Figures
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Paper Citation

Milligan, Kevin (2016), “The Tax Recognition of Children in Canada: Exemptions, Credits, and Cash Transfers”, Canadian Tax Journal Vol. 64(3), 601-18.

Paper Abstract

For almost 60 years, the Canadian Tax Foundation published an annual monograph, Finances of the Nation, and its predecessor, The National Finances. In a change of format, the 2014 Canadian Tax Journal introduced a new “Finances of the Nation” feature, which presents a series of articles on topical matters related to taxation and public expenditures in Canada. Previous articles include surveys of provincial and territorial budgets for fiscal years 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16, prepared by Vivien Morgan, and monographs by Kevin Milligan, “The Growth of Government in Canada: A 21st-Century Perspective”; Kenneth J. McKenzie, “The Corporate Income Tax in Canada—Past, Present, and Future”; and Richard Bird and Michael Smart, “Taxing Consumption in Canada: Rates, Revenues, and Redistribution.” In this issue, Kevin Milligan discusses the evolution of the child benefit system in Canada and documents the distributional impact of federal transfers by income level and family type over a 50-year period (1966-2016). The underlying data for the Finances of the Nation monographs and the articles in this journal will be published online in the near future.