Housing, affordability and generational fairness are the buzzwords in the 2024 federal budget, unveiled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday. But the government’s newly announced spending goes well beyond those areas, and will be paid for partly with significant tax increases on the top income earners in Canada, and corporations.
Ms. Freeland detailed $53-billion in new spending over five years, $21.9-billion of which will be funded primarily through increases to capital gains taxes and excise duties on tobacco and vaping products. Of the new spending, $19-billion is allocated to new housing and affordability measures. The next biggest spend is $10.7-billion for defence, followed by $9.1-billion in new spending for Indigenous communities and businesses. Funding for economic growth measures comes in at $7.6-billion, and $6.4-billion in new funding is allotted for community health and safety.
Those umbrella categories include things such as $2.4-billion to process asylum seekers and refugees and provide them with housing and health care. The long-awaited federal disability benefit will be funded with $6.1-billion over six years. The budget also projects that the national pharmacare plan, a key part of the minority Liberal government’s deal with the NDP for support in the House of Commons, will cost $1.5-billion over five years.
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