Our Vision
Governments Budget Fairly for All Generations
The generational gap in who pays, and who benefits from, our income tax dollars
The revenue governments collect via income taxes is a key way Canadians work together to pay for the programs and services we want. In general, when our tax contributions cover the full cost of things like medical care, income benefits, child care and education, governments can balance their books. When demand for services exceeds the revenue collected, governments run deficits.
Liberal, Conservative and NDP governments across Canada are currently running large deficits. This cross-party trend is a threat to generational fairness, because younger and future generations will be saddled with the bills we leave unpaid today. To help understand why it’s happening, we took a look at how income taxes have changed over the last 5 decades.
Here’s what we found:
Income taxes are lower today than when baby boomers were young.
Because income tax rates are generally lower now than they were half a century ago.
Today’s retirees consume a larger share of the revenue governments collect via income taxes, compared to what we collectively spent on retirees when the baby boom generation was young.
Despite lower tax rates, more tax dollars go to retirees’ medical care and Old Age Security today than half a century ago. This is because the percentage of Canada’s population over age 65 has increased from 8% in 1976, to 19% in 2024.
A larger share of the tax dollars paid by younger people today goes to support retirees, compared to what retirees paid to support older generations when they were young.
The typical 35-year-old now pays around 20-40% more for boomers’ Old Age Security and medical care than boomers paid as young people to support the smaller number of seniors in their day.
Together, these trends result in governments having fewer funds to invest in younger generations — even though these age groups face greater financial insecurity and declining wellbeing. That’s not investing fairly in young and old alike.
Read more in our full analysis
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Canadian governments should invest in ways that support Canadians of all ages to thrive, and raise revenue in ways that support all generations to contribute a fair share.
Governments are doing a good job protecting healthy retirements by growing investments in public pensions and medical care. These investments matter, and they’ve helped make seniors the least likely age group to be poor. But we’re not investing as urgently in things that matter for younger people, like affordable homes, family supports, and climate action — even though they face growing financial insecurity, greater mental ill health, and declining happiness and hope for the future.
Governments often sidestep hard questions about how to pay for the Canada we want, because talking taxes is unpopular. We should have learned by now the risks of not being honest with Canadians. Past governments’ failure to plan adequately to cover the rising costs of an aging population has left a big hole in the budget. Governments are compensating in generationally unfair ways, like growing public debt and squeezing investments to reverse the deteriorating wellbeing of younger people.
Our Priorities
We're pushing for these policy changes to reach our goal.
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Retire Unfair Retirement Policies to Better Support All Ages
We're championing a simple reform to Canada's outdated retirement policies. By reducing cash payments to affluent retirees with incomes over $100k, Canada could save $36 billion over five years. That's enough to eliminate poverty for ALL seniors and invest in affordable housing, child care, and education for younger Canadians.
This policy change would leave fewer unpaid bills for future generations, as governments across Canada struggle with ballooning deficits. Canada's retirement system was designed when there were seven workers to support each retiree. But there are now only three workers to support every retiring baby boomer. That means the tax burden on each younger person has grown heavier, which is particularly unfair given that they're squeezed by greater financial insecurity.
When revenue falls short of rising costs, the predictable result is a big hole in government budgets. The hard truth is we can't balance budgets without tax increases or cuts to the biggest ticket items – public pensions and medical care for retirees. We're pushing governments to close these spending and revenue gaps in ways that are fair to all ages.
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A Tax Shift to Benefit the Vast Majority
With living costs on the rise and spiraling housing prices that are disconnected from earnings, it’s time for a Tax Shift. Let’s tax incomes less, especially for lower and middle earners. Let’s tax wealth more, especially windfalls from rising home prices that help drive up harmful unaffordability for younger people and renters of any age.
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Break Down Government Spending by Age
The first step in solving a problem is recognizing you have one. Decision-makers need to know what we’re spending by age group. Then we can hold them to account for investing in wellbeing for all ages.
Our Comprehensive Policy Game Plan
It's time to recognize that building a Canada that works for all generations requires budgets that invest and raise revenue fairly for all ages. That's why we put together this game plan for generationally fair budgets.
