GOVERNMENT REVENUES AND POLICIES

Canada

2007 - 2008

A budgetary surplus of $9.6 billion was recorded in 2007–08. Budgetary

revenues increased by 2.7 per cent over the prior year. This gain was
due to growth in income tax revenues and a significant increase in
other program revenues, partially offset by a decline in goods and
services tax (GST) revenues. The decline in GST revenues was due to
the impact of the July 1, 2006, and January 1, 2008, GST rate reduc-
tions. Program expenses rose by 6.0 per cent as a result of higher
transfers to both persons and other levels of government, as well as
higher operating expenses. Public debt charges fell by $0.6 billion,
or 1.8 per cent, due to a lower stock of market debt and slightly low-
er effective interest rates.

2008 - 2009
Revenues totalled $233.1 billion in 2008–09, a decrease of $9.3
billion or 3.8 per cent from 2007–08 (Table 3). Tax revenues
fell by $12.0 billion, or 5.9 per cent, while EI premium rev-
enues rose by $0.3 billion, or 2.0 per cent. Other revenues in-
creased by $2.3 billion, or 10.5 per cent. The largest source of
revenues in 2008–09 was personal income tax revenues, which
stood at 49.8 per cent of total revenues. The second largest
source was corporate income tax revenues at 12.6 per cent. GST
revenues were 11.1 per cent of revenues while EI premium rev-
enues contributed 7.2 per cent. Personal income tax revenues in-
creased $3.0 billion, or 2.6 per cent, in 2008–09. This increase
primarily reflected a refinement of the tax accrual estimation
methodology to address an understatement of personal income tax
revenues dating from the adoption of accrual accounting in 2002–
03. These refinements had a one-time impact of raising personal
income tax revenues by about $2.9 billion. The increase in rev-
enues due to growth in wages and salaries was largely offset by
personal income tax reductions announced in Budget 2009.

2010 - 2011
Revenues totalled $237.1 billion in 2010–11, an increase of

$18.5 billion or 8.5 per cent from

2009–10 (Table 3). The increase over the prior year was due pri-
marily to higher personal income tax revenues, GST revenues and
other revenues.

The following chart illustrates the composition of revenues

for 2010–11. The largest source of federal revenues is personal
income tax revenues, which accounted for 47.9 per cent of total
revenues in 2010–11. The second largest source was corporate in-
come tax revenues at 12.6 per cent. GST revenues were
12.0 per cent of revenues while EI premium revenues contributed
7.4 per cent. Other revenues made up 11.9 per cent of total rev-
enues in 2010–11, up 2.0 percentage points from a year earlier,
due mainly to an increase in the net profits of enterprise Crown
corporations.

2011 - 2012

Revenues totalled $245.2 billion in 2011–12, up $8.1 billion, or

3.4 per cent, from 2010–11 (Table 4). The increase over the pri-
or year was due primarily to growth in tax revenues from an ex-
panding economy.
The following chart illustrates the composition of revenues for
2011–12. The largest source of federal revenues is personal in-
come tax revenues, which accounted for 48.6 per cent of total
revenues in 2011–12. The second largest source was corporate in-
come tax revenues at 12.9 per cent. Goods and Services Tax (GST)
revenues were 11.6 per cent of revenues while other taxes and
duties were 6.0 per cent. Other revenues contributed
11.1 per cent of revenues in 2011–12, EI premium revenues con-
tributed 7.6 per cent, and non-resident income tax revenues made
up the remaining 2.2 per cent of revenues.

2012 - 2013

Revenues totalled $256.6 billion in 2012–13, up $7.5 billion, or

3.0 per cent, from 2011–12 (Table 4). The increase over the pri-
or year was due primarily to growth in personal income tax rev-
enues, corporate income tax revenues and EI premium revenues.
These increases were partially offset by lower other revenues.

The following chart illustrates the composition of revenues for

2012–13. The largest source of federal revenues is personal in-
come tax revenues, which accounted for 49.0 per cent of total
revenues in 2012–13. The second largest source was corporate in-
come tax revenues at 13.6 per cent. Goods and Services Tax (GST)
revenues were 11.2 per cent of revenues while other taxes and
duties were 5.8 per cent. Other revenues contributed 10.5 per
cent of revenues in 2012–13, EI premium revenues contributed
7.9 per cent, and non-resident income tax revenues made up the
remaining 2.0 per cent of revenues.
2013 - 2014
Revenues totalled $271.7 billion in 2013–14, up $15.0 billion,
or 5.9 per cent, from 2012–13 (Table 5), reflecting increases
across all revenue streams.

The following chart illustrates the composition of revenues for

2013–14. The largest source of federal revenues is personal in-
come tax revenues, which accounted for 48.1 per cent of total
revenues in 2013–14. The second largest source was corporate in-
come tax revenues at 13.5 per cent. Goods and Services Tax (GST)
revenues were 11.4 per cent of revenues while other taxes and
duties were 5.6 per cent. Employment Insurance (EI) premium rev-
enues contributed 8.0 per cent of revenues and non-resident in-
come tax revenues made up 2.4 per cent. Other revenues, which
include net profits from enterprise Crown corporations, revenues
of consolidated Crown corporations, revenues from sales of goods
and services, returns on investments, net foreign exchange rev-
enues and miscellaneous revenues, contributed 11.0 per cent of
revenues in 2013–14.

2015 - 2016
Revenues totalled $295.5 billion in 2015–16, up $13.1 billion,
or 4.6 per cent, from 2014–15 (Table 5), reflecting growth in
all revenue streams except other revenues.

The following chart illustrates the composition of revenues for

2015–16. The largest source of federal revenues is personal in-
come tax revenues, which accounted for 49.0 per cent of total
revenues in 2015–16. The second largest source was corporate in-
come tax revenues at 14.0 per cent. Goods and Services Tax (GST)
revenues were 11.2 per cent of revenues while other taxes and
duties were 5.7 per cent. Employment Insurance (EI) premium rev-
enues contributed 7.8 per cent of revenues and non-resident in-
come tax revenues made up 2.2 per cent. Other revenues, which
include net profits from enterprise Crown corporations, revenues
of consolidated Crown corporations, revenues from sales of goods
and services, returns on investments, net foreign exchange rev-
enues and miscellaneous revenues, contributed 10.1 per cent of
revenues in 2015–16.

2016 - 2017
The Government posted a budgetary deficit of $17.8 billion in
2016–17, compared to a deficit of $1.0 billion in 2015–16.

Revenues were down $2.0 billion, or 0.7 per cent, from the prior
year, primarily reflecting declines in personal income tax rev-
enues, Employment Insurance (EI) premium revenues and other rev-
enues, partially offset by an increase in Goods and Services Tax
(GST) revenues.

Expenses were up $14.8 billion, or 5.0 per cent, from the prior
year. Program expenses increased by $16.2 billion, reflecting
increases in major transfers to persons and other levels of gov-
ernment and other transfer payments. Public debt charges de-
creased by $1.3 billion, or 5.2 per cent, from the prior year,
reflecting a lower average effective interest rate on the stock
of interest-bearing debt.

To enhance the comparability of financial results over time and

across jurisdictions, the budgetary balance and its components
are often presented as a percentage of GDP. The following chart
shows the budgetary balance as a percentage of GDP since 1988–
89. In 2016–17, the budgetary deficit was 0.9 per cent of GDP,
compared to a deficit of 0.0 per cent of GDP a year earlier.

Expense
Canada: Government spending, billion USD: For that indicator,
The World Bank provides data for Canada from 1960 to 2016. The
average value for Canada during that period was 128.51 billion
U.S. dollars with a minumum of 5.98 billion U.S. dollars in
1960 and a maximum of 385.08 billion U.S. dollars in 2012.
Philippines

2007 - 2017
The government continued to improve budget execution in 2017.
Public expenditure increased from 17.6 percent of GDP in 2016 to
17.9 percent in 2017 (Figure 13). Nevertheless, the government’s
budget execution fell short of programmed public spending by 2.9
percent in 2017, which was only a slight improvement from the
3.6 percent in 2016.20 Underspending was primarily the result of
lower-than-expected recurrent spending on personnel expenditures
and maintenance and other operating expenditures. 21 Meanwhile,
infrastructure expenditures exceeded their programmed target and
increased slightly from 3.4 percent of GDP in 2016 to 3.6 per-
cent in 2017. Infrastructure outlays were directed towards the
implementation of various road infrastructure, flood control,
and dike and river basin repair projects as well as the repair
and rehabilitation of school facilities and the purchase of mil-
itary equipment under the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ mod-
ernisation program.

Fiscal policy remained consistent with the government’s policy

to increase human capital and infrastructure investments. Howev-
er, a faster than-expected normalisation of global policy rates
and concerns over a growing current-account deficit in the
Philippines diminished investors’ appetite for Philippine as-
sets, leading to capital outflows and a continued weakness in
the exchange rate. Nevertheless, sustained economic growth in
recent years made it likely that poverty continued to decline,
but recent inflation trends might adversely impact the poor.
Public expenditure has consistently surpassed public revenue in
the Philippines. The fiscal balance has been in deficit since
2000, reaching a high of 5.0 percent of nominal GDP in 2002 and
a low of 0.2 percent of GDP in 2007 (Figure 14). Public expendi-
ture averaged 16.8 percent between 2013 and 2017, which was sim-
ilar to the average in the preceding five years but lower com-
pared to the regional peer average of 23.9 percent in the same
period (Figure 15). Among its peers, China’s public expenditure
as a share of GDP was the largest at 37.5 percent, followed by
Vietnam (29.6 percent) and Malaysia (22 percent). Nonetheless,
public spending in the Philippines is programmed to substantial-
ly rise as the administration rolls out its flagship in-
frastructure and social investment programs. In 2018, budget
disbursement is expected to increase to Php3.3 trillion, a 17.3
percent increase from the Php2.8 trillion actual disbursement in
2017.
Expense
Public spending on productive expenditure items has increased
over the past five years. The central government and local gov-
ernment units received about two-thirds and one fifth of the to-
tal public budget, respectively, and the rest was shared between
government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and credi-
tors. Personnel services (including payments for salaries,
wages, and other compensation) and maintenance and other operat-
ing expenses (including expenses for operations of government
agencies) have dominated the Philippines’ public expenditures
and remained roughly constant as a share of total expenditures
between 2013 and 2017 (Figure 16). However, the share of inter-
est payments declined significantly from 17.2 percent of total
public spending in 2013 to 11.9 percent in 2017, freeing up
funds that were increasingly directed to finance expenditures
for infrastructure and other capital outlays.22 Public spending
on infrastructure and other capital outlays and subsidies rose
from an annual rate of 14.0 percent and 3.4 percent, respective-
ly, in 2013 to 20.1 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, in
2017.
 References:
Department of Finance Canada - https://www.fin.gc.ca/afr-rfa/
2017/report-rapport-eng.asp
Philippine Economic Update: Investing in the future - http://
pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/280741523838376587/Philippines-Econom-
ic-Update-April-15-2018-final.pdf
Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada - https://
www.fin.gc.ca/afr-rfa/2009/afr-rfa09-eng.pdf
TheGlobalEconomy.com - https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Philippines/
Government_size/

Question:
1.What are the government revenues in the corresponding years?
• In 2007 to 2008 Government revenues in Canada, a budgetary sur-
plus of $9.6 billion was recorded. In 2008 to 2009, revenues totalled
$233.1 billion, decrease of $9.3 billion or 3.8 per cent. 2010 to
2011, revenues totalled $237.1 billion, an increase of $18.5 billion
or 8.5 per cent. Revenues totalled $245.2 billion in 2011 to 2012,
up $8.1 billion, or 3.4 per cent, from 2010–11. In 2012 to 2013,
$256.6 billion up, $7.5 billion, or 3.0 per cent. 2013 to 2014,
$271.7 billion in 2013–14, up $15.0 billion, or 5.9 per cent, from
2012–13. Revenues totalled $295.5 billion in 2015–16, up $13.1 bil-
lion, or 4.6 per cent. And in 2016 to 2017, the Government posted a
budgetary deficit of $17.8 billion in 2016–17, compared to a
deficit of $1.0 billion in 2015–16.