Tax Subsidies for R & D in Canada, 1981-2016

	R & D Tax Subsidies Data
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Paper Citation

Crisan, Daria and Kenneth J. McKenzie (2017), “Tax Subsidies for R&D in Canada, 1981-2016”, Canadian Tax Journal Vol.65(4), 951-81.

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
annual surveys of provincial and territorial budgets, and topical articles on taxation and
public expenditures in Canada.
In this issue, Daria Crisan and Kenneth J. McKenzie discuss government policy related to
innovation, focusing on tax subsidies for research and development (R & D) provided by the
federal and provincial governments in Canada. Using various metrics based on the marginal
effective tax rate approach, Crisan and McKenzie document federal and provincial tax
policy as it relates to R & D over the period 1981-2016. The data are unique in that no similar
provincial-level panel, or longitudinal, data set exists for Canada. The article concludes with
some comments regarding the “R & D policy puzzle” in Canada.
The underlying data for the Finances of the Nation monographs and the articles in this
journal will be published online in the near future.