Legislative Costing Notes - 2024-25

• The Online Harms Act: Establishment of a Digital Safety Commission, Ombudsperson and Office
  Jul 4, 2024 • LEG-2425-008-M
  Preliminary estimates from the Department of Canadian Heritage indicate that the Digital Safety Commission, Ombudsperson and Office will have 330 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees at full capacity. The PBO estimates that from 2024-2025 to 2028-2029 the total operating costs will be $201 million, minus any possible administrative monetary penalties, fines and/or regulatory charges collected by the Commission, Ombudsperson and Office.
• Temporary changes to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program in school year 2024-25
  Jun 21, 2024 • LEG-2425-007-S
  Extending the increase in full-time Canada Student Grants (CSG) from $3,000 to $4,200 per year, and interest-free Canada Student Loans (CSL) from $210 to $300 per week for an additional school year, 2024-25. Grants for part-time students, students with disabilities, and students with dependants will also be increased proportionately. PBO estimates total net cost of this measure to be $1.1 billion over five years, beginning in fiscal year 2024-25.
• Cost estimate of alcohol excise duty relief
  Jun 17, 2024 • LEG-2425-006-S
  In an announcement on March 9, 2024, the government proposed two measures to provide excise duty relief to alcohol producers. These measures would be in place for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years. The first measure was maintaining the yearly increases on excise duty rates at 2 per cent, instead of the yearly increases being tied to inflation. The second measure was a further reduction of 50% on excise duty applied to a brewer’s first 15,000 hL of beer brewed in Canada. The PBO estimates these measures will have a fiscal cost of $393 million over 5 years. In each year of this costing, the policy changes would only reduce the total alcohol excise duty revenue by about 3%.
• Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance for Eligible New Purpose-built Rental Housing
  May 22, 2024 • LEG-2425-005-S
  The accelerated capital cost allowance increases the maximum allowable rate of depreciation from 4 per cent to 10 per cent on eligible new purpose-built rental housing. Eligible properties must contain at least four private apartment units (or 10 private rooms); and at least 90 per cent of residential units must be held for long-term rental. To qualify, construction must begin after April 15, 2024, and be completed before January 1, 2036. *Revised: 2024-05-22 02:15 PM*
• An Act respecting pharmacare
  May 15, 2024 • LEG-2425-003-S
  Bill C-64 proposes to provide universal, single-payer, first-dollar coverage for a range of contraception and diabetes medications as the first phase of national universal pharmacare. The aim of the program is to expand and enhance, rather than replace, existing provincial and territorial coverage. The PBO estimates that the first phase of national universal pharmacare will increase federal program spending by $1.9 billion over five years. This estimate assumes that any medications that are currently covered by provincial and territorial governments, as well as private insurance providers will remain covered on the same terms.
• Supporting Journalists and News Organizations
  May 10, 2024 • LEG-2425-004-S
  The federal government is proposing to enhance the Canadian journalism labour tax credit that was initially established in 2019. PBO estimates that the new provisions of the measure will result in an additional cost of $104 million to the public purse.
• Supporting Employee Ownership Trusts
  Apr 23, 2024 • LEG-2425-002-S
  As initially proposed in Budget 2022, the government introduced tax rules for the creation of employee ownership trusts (EOT) in Budget 2023 to give business owners an alternative succession option. In response to stakeholder feedback, Fall Economic Statement (FES) 2023 proposes to temporarily exempt up to $10 million in capital gains realised on the sale of a private business to an EOT from taxation in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 tax years. Further, Budget 2024 proposes changes to capital gains taxation that will impact the amount of capital gains a business owner could exempt following the sale of their private business to an EOT.
• Estimated revenues from the Underused Housing Tax
  Apr 19, 2024 • LEG-2425-001-S
  The Underused Housing Tax (UHT) is an annual federal 1% tax on the ownership of vacant or underused housing in Canada that took effect on January 1, 2022. Since then, there has been continued interest by Parliamentarians on the expected revenues generated by the UHT. Furthermore, in November 2023 the Department of Finance release legislative and regulatory proposals designed to facilitate compliance with the UHT. The PBO estimates that the revenues generated from this tax will be $131.7 million in fiscal year 2023-24 and $693.9 million over a 5-year period.