Canada's top-end personal tax rates need to come down

financialpost.com:

Before 2015, Alberta had, by far, the lowest federal-provincial combined top marginal tax rate in Canada at 39 per cent. This comparative advantage contributed greatly to large amounts of investment and people going into Alberta.

That year, however, the federal Liberal Party formed the new government, and in Alberta, the NDP surprisingly came to power provincially. The new federal government promptly announced it was raising the rates on so-called high-income earners by “asking them to pay just a little bit more” (an offensive speaking point that was overused for the next four-plus years, especially when one understands how much high-income earners already pay when compared to the whole of Canada). The new “ask” would commence in 2016 by introducing a new high federal bracket that increased the top-end rate by four per cent.

The Alberta government also introduced new higher rates for 2015 and 2016. When the dust settled, Alberta’s highest marginal personal tax rate increased to a top end of 48 per cent, a large increase from its previous low and significantly narrowing the gap between some of the provinces that already had high personal rates, such as Ontario, Quebec and some of the Maritime provinces.

After the four per cent federal increase, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces had personal rates of more than 50 per cent. Ontario settled into a combined federal–provincial tax rate of 53.53 per cent and it remains that today. Quebec and the Maritime provinces are similar. British Columbia recently joined that club.

Bluntly, Canada’s marginal personal income tax rates are far too high. When I mention this to some of my left-leaning friends, they may rebut: “Kim, you realize that Canada’s highest marginal rates