Canada's high tax rates are driving talented workers to leave the country

financialpost.com:

Canada’s personal tax rates are too high, as many of us realize. There are numerous data sources that consistently put this country’s personal tax rates amongst the highest on Earth. Yes, there are countries with higher marginal personal rates, but there are many more that are lower. Most Canadians, however, are more often concerned about our largest and most important neighbour — the United States.

Why? Well, there is a tremendous amount of personal and economic exchange between Canada and the U.S. and this has a direct and indirect impact on Canadians’ economic prosperity. Canada used to be the U.S.’s largest trading partner, but it lost its top spot to China a few years back and the two countries have been jockeying for top spot ever since. However, Mexico has surpassed Canada in 2023 and China has slipped below Canada.

Canada is often in a battle for skilled labour to help maintain its high standard of living. That labour can include talent such as executives, engineers, tradespeople and, yes, even professional athletes. Canada is also in a battle for foreign investment to ensure it can create and maintain jobs through business expansion or the start-up of new businesses.

Personal taxation is not the only factor in the competition for skilled labour with its largest trading partner, but it certainly is an important one. High personal tax rates are also a drag on overall productivity and innovation. Having fertile grounds for good productivity and innovation are well-known attributes for success for job creators. But Canada’s gross domestic product and productivity are dropping at an alarming rate. Not good.

How does Canada compare to its southern neighbour when it comes to personal taxation? To illustrate this, I