Federal election primer: Tax fairness edition

Interest is building in Canada around a number of bold, progressive policy ideas⁠—everything from implementing universal single-payer pharmacare (as recommended recently by the Hoskins commission) to a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels and towards a new green economy. But how can we afford to make these ideas reality, with rising costs of living a consistent concern in communities from coast-to-coast? Every year we publish an Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) that examines how the federal government could use its vast resources to improve Canada. Every AFB is fully costed and includes a tax chapter on how to pay for new or improved public programs. It’s not uncommon for our AFB ideas to end up in the actual federal budget. It’s also not uncommon for them to end up in election platforms.