Canada's high personal income taxes keep it mid-ranked in global tax competitiveness

The Tax Foundation’s Center for Global Tax Policy released its 2026 International Tax Competitiveness Index, showing Canada remaining at 15th place among 38 industrialised countries, the same position as the previous year and slightly ahead of the United States. The nation’s overall score is pulled down chiefly by personal income taxes, which sit at 28th among OECD members, and by a low ranking on cross-border tax regimes.

Conversely, Canada scores well on consumption taxes, ranking eighth, and does not levy wealth, estate or inheritance taxes. The study’s cutoff predates recent Carney-government measures such as the removal of the consumer carbon-tax component, GST reductions for first-time homebuyers, and a modest personal-income-tax cut, so these reforms are not reflected. Business leaders surveyed by KPMG express confidence that the forthcoming budget will improve tax competitiveness, while the Canadian Taxpayers Federation urges more substantial cuts to both income and corporate taxes amid the ongoing U.S. trade dispute.