Whenever Canadians cross the border, it is inevitable they will find cheaper goods in the United States. Whether milk, books, electronic goods or vehicles, it seems bargains abound south of the 49th parallel.
The Canadian Senate has just done a bang-up job of adding hard data to anecdotal observations on this issue. In a recent report, the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance found several reasons for higher Canadian prices, including higher regulations in Canada and higher taxes. (The latter explains the difference in gasoline and diesel prices at the pump, for example.)
Other factors that explain the price discrepancies include the relatively small size of the Canadian market. However, one submission to the Senate noted that prices in Montreal (pop. 2 million) are substantially higher than in neighbouring Plattsburgh, USA (pop. 20,000). So the size of the market doesn't explain everything.
However, there is another reason that helps explain part of the price differences: $3.6 billion in customs tariffs.
For example, ice hockey gloves are subject to a duty of 16.5 per cent while ice hockey pants are subject to an 18 per cent duty. This is why it is helpful to think of a tariff on imported goods as a tax. After all, imagine if Ottawa imposed a visible 18 per cent sales tax on all your kids' hockey equipment. But that tax is there; it's just not visible on your receipt.
One caveat: As the Senate report notes, 90 per cent of goods that entered Canada in 2010 came duty-free. However, of the $3.6 billion the federal government collects in tariffs every year, 60 per cent of that comes from tariffs applied to apparel and textile products, automobiles, auto parts and footwear. And as the Senate committee observed, such tariffs have a much more dramatic effect upon prices because of what I dub the "cascade effect." The Senate report explains how "wholesalers and retailers also apply their respective gross margin on the cost of the imported product including the tariff." That, the Senate found, magnifies the effect of that tariff on the final price.
In one example, almost 76 per cent of the price discrepancy between Canada and the United States was due to the tariff and the additional margins cascaded on top. (The rest was due to differences in demand for the product between the two countries and the cost of doing business.)
So what is the remedy to eliminate much of the price difference between Canada and the U.S.? One Senate recommendation included a review of the $3.6 billion tariff bill to consumers. But here the Senate committee fudged a clear call for the complete abolishment of tariffs; it asked the government to keep in mind "the impact on domestic manufacturing." The Senate was also concerned that businesses might not always pass on the full benefits of tariff reductions to consumers.
That $3.6 billion is a tax on consumers. The Senate committee's fear could be assuaged if the federal government allowed more competition, which in some cases, an abolishment of tariffs would provoke.
For instance, vehicles not assembled in NAFTA countries are subject to a 2.5 per cent tariff in the United States but a 6.1 per cent tariff in Canada. If Ottawa removed our tariff, NAFTA-based auto manufacturers would be forced to drop prices for consumers in order to compete with vehicles imported from elsewhere.
Here's another example and one the Senate report ignored completely: federal tariffs in the dairy and poultry sector. There, tariffs on foreign imports range from 202 per cent (skim milk) to 298 per cent (butter); cheese, yogurt, ice cream and regular milk fall within that range. If Ottawa dropped the tariffs and ended the government-protected dairy and poultry cartels where supply is restricted and new competitors banned, consumers would see real drops in prices.
All consumers would benefit from more competition and an end to anti-consumer tariffs. But more importantly, low-income Canadians would benefit the most. That's because what little money such families do have is spent on the necessities of life. Those are often the items subject to tariffs.
Abolishing tariffs -- whether on automobiles, necessary for most people to earn a living and to transport kids around, or on the basic necessities of life -- would positively affect poorest Canadians the most. That's why Ottawa should end $3.6 billion in tariffs: because tariffs are a tax on the poor.
Sure, I should pay $300 in gas to save $1.95 on what I buy, typical radical American Fraser Institute logic.
Why oh why huffpost do you let The "Frazer Institute" /koch brothers post such drival.
If you're going to post the ultra right wing then at the very least please have "Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives" post alongside for balance.
It's too much to take first thing in the morning.
But...I guess I can point out the obvious: yes, abolish the tariffs, Mark.
I'm sure we'll need those nickels and dimes to put towards your new privatized healthcare system, your privatized educational system and whatever new privatized hell you and your fine 'fellows' will start calling for as this latest variation of your tax cuts strangle more public services.
Should I go on to talk about the most obvious beneficiary of tariff reductions--mega corporations, like your new best friends, the Koch brothers?
Should I make another obvious point, that removing tariffs from clothes and textiles--manufactured in world sweatshops--will only perpetuate globalization, the export of jobs, and the ongoing reduction in real wages?
No...world sweatshops and wage reductions are F.I. specialities.
Then should I even bother to mention that corporations hoard wealth, that trickle-down is long disproven and that 'competition' and 'choice' are getting to be really, really tiresome cliches from people like you?
No! No! My stomach hurts enough already!
The Fraser Institute--champions of the poor! Too much! I need to lie down.
As soon as I cross the 49th, I can feel the weight of socialist excess and unhindered taxation fall from my shoulders.
After you've lived in the Backward States for 6 months, you will be crawling back to Canada and kissing the ground as soon as you set foot back on Canadian soil. Americans live pathetic, impoverished life, compared to Canadians. I worked down there, I know.
for one would enjoy reading more commentary thrashing the FI. Please carry on. Milke's mindless rants deserve greater exposure. Particularly the Milke/FI newspeak that underlies the competition lie.
Very entertaining read. Thank you.
It cost no more or less for a retailer in Denver or Toronto to purchase & sell a product to consumers. 95% of Canadian's live within a very defined geographic area. That area encompasses some of the most efficient transportation routes in north america. The geographic & demographic argument was lost before it was ever uttered as an excuse to justify higher prices.
Even tariffs are only applied as you note to 10% of the products sold in Canada. The majority of these products also are not products purchased on a regular basis by consumers. Most are luxury items like the hockey gloves & pants.
While tariffs do add costs, it's our dairy & poultry marketing boards that need to be abolished. Let the tariff's remain on the hockey apparel it doesn't harm the poor.
sure poor people cough up 3.6 billion a year in tarriffs -------
who knew the fraser institute was a bleeding heart outfit
how does the fraser institute propose the government make up the difference if the tarriffs are dropped ---
weaken the social safety net ----health care ----increased taxes (personal of course not corporate )
oil royalties would be my choice ----side benefit --heads at the fraser institute explode
oil royalties
The tariffs were created to protect Canadian industry, sometimes an industry no longer exists yet the tariffs still do(like the hockey equipment). Other times, like the dairy industry, they are meant to keep jobs here because we cannot compete with the lax labour regulations and subsidies of the US that ensure the products can be sold for less.
If you or anyone at the Fraser institute actually had poor peoples best interest in mind you might suggest transferring a percentage of the tarifs back to them directly or at the least indicate how the tarifs contribute to our social services.
It's quite obvious the Fraser institues end goal is for a free market without regulations, taxes or tarifs. In theory this would create competition and ensure the consumer pays the lowest price.
I for one am getting tired of calls for yet more free trade when it is becoming more and more obvious that it is merely a disguised call to join the race to the bottom.