This report has been prepared by ENTRANS Policy Research Group for the Mining Association of Canada (MAC). Its purpose is to quantify the payments to federal and provincial governments by the Canadian mineral sector over the period 2003 to 2012. The report is the latest edition of earlier ENTRANS studies undertaken annually for the Mining Association of Canada.
The report focuses on three principal sources of direct payments by mineral sector companies and their employees:
- royalties and mining taxes paid to provincial and federal governments by virtue of their ownership of the resources,
- corporate income taxes paid by mineral sector companies to both the federal and provincial governments, and
- personal income taxes paid by employees of mineral sector companies on their employment earnings.
The report does not cover corporate income tax payments made by companies in industries that supply services to the mining industry –these are reported in their respective industries. Similarly, it does not include the personal income taxes paid by employees of such companies. Taxes levied by municipalities, such as property taxes, are also not included, although the reason here is more a practical one of data availability. Scattered evidence, however, suggests that such property tax payments may be substantial in some situations.2 Finally, we do not include mineral-related payments made to, or collected on behalf of First Nations.
