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IB FEDERAL ELECTION HOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDS YOUR MONEY AMANDA PERSICO apersico@yrmg.com As residents head to the polls Sept. 20 for the 44th general © glee: tion, campaign promise: the major parties come Share to nickels and dimes — but in the billion-dollar range. While party leaders are busy making promises to either save or spend money, let's take a look at the pocket change that keeps the country moving forward — from benefits paid to our seniors to revenue collected from corpo- rate taxes. WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM? The simple answer: taxes. Tax revenue in 2019-2020 went upabout 0. 6 per: cent ree: to ie to the as part of the new federal carbon polluting tax that came into effect April 2019. In 2019-20, personal income taxes made up about 50 per cent of all federal revenue. The other She VOTE 2021 theifp.ca/vote2021 half is collected from other forms of taxes: corporate, duty, energy and. cares | taxes. ate taxes are ond largest form of: Byer reve, nues — constituting about 15 per cent. Revenue from both Personal income and corporate income taxes. ‘nereased by about 15 31 per cent between 2014 and 2( WHERE DOES THE MONEY a0? Federal expenses roughly fall into three categories: people, provinces and federal programs. insfers to persons make uj less than 30 per cent of the total expenses and consist of senior, EI and children's benefits as well as the new Canada Emergency Re- sponse 8 Benefit (CERB). while, transfers to prov- inces 1 make up about 37 per cent of federal expenses. Transfer payments include equalization payments; health, home care and mental health transfers; and gas. tax transfers. ther payments include transfers to Indigenous commu- nities; assistance to farmers, stu- dents and businesses; research and development; and interna- tonal assistance, ect federal programs in- cludec crown corporations and na- tional defence. Public debt charges — the amount required to pay interest charges — is shown as a budget- expense, since those funds are not available for programs, Public charges re de- creased ona peakek ‘about 38per cent o one the budget i in 1990 to about sevel in 2019-20. That means Pthe government spent about seven cents for every reve- ue dollar on interest charges. exes VS REVENUE In 2019-20, federal expenses in- evened by about eight per cent or about $27.: a Dillion compared to the year pri Of that, about $3.2 billion can SAVE 46 % OFF THE NEWSSTAND RATE Get the Toronto Star weekend home delivery for just * A WEEK FOR $399 12 MONTHS YOU'LL GET: « Saturday and Sunday home delivery LUMBE ‘cons COMO? mae: sponse Pn Susie Kockerscheidt/Metroland Benefits amount to about cent of federal expenses. be chalked up to new transfer payments to Newfoundland and Labrador and an increase in transfers to Quebec. Another large portion — $7.2 billion — was doled out as an im- mediate response to the CO- VID-19 pandemic. A relatively small portion of COVID-19-relat- ed expenses is reflected 2019-20 expenses. About $0.7 billion was ear- marked for provincial and na- s tional public-health pandemic operations, personal protective equipment, medical research and = al euL | 6 vaccine developments. nd = about $6.5 billion was granted Fy through CURB. Fy Revenues were up in 2019-20 by & about 0.6 per cent due in part to 9 the new carbon tax. BENEFITS: SENIORS, CHILDREN'S, El AND NOW CERB Bonofits —or transfers to per- sons — amount to about 29 per ~ cent of federal expenses. Senior benefits increased in 2019-20 by about 5.4 per cent. ada's population ages, senior sponefits will continue to incre: zoe “QL Jequieyd Seniors aged 65 and older have made up about 18 per cent of the population in 2020, compared to about 16 per cent of children. Employment insurance also increased by about 15.2 per cent, as the pandemic quickly had a stranglehold on the labour ket between mandated closures and lockdowns. ‘Your trusted buldng & hardware supply partner © Starweek Magazine print edition * Complimentary 7-day ePaper edition * Complimentary 7-day access to thestar.com website ENTER FOR A CHANCE om TO WIN 1 OF 3 xe $5000 SUBSCRIBE ONLINE: tsoffers.ca/deal/comm OR CALL: 416-367-4500 and quote code 2DAYSAVE for weekend home delivery for 12 months oF YOUFsubsenpton isi snued. The Toronto Star reserves the right q tine 264 Main St. North Acton, Ontario the regular payments willbe ile 1Ww9 2 Ph: 519-853-1970 © Fax: 519-853-2542 f