The office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that the wage subsidy program will cost $ 67.9 billion, $ 14 billion less than the Trudeau government predicted.
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In its “economic portrait” presented in July, Ottawa put the measure at $ 82.3 billion.
A report released Thursday by the office of the federal watchdog in matters of finance, Yves Giroux, revises this estimate downwards.
“The PBO estimates the total net cost of this measure at $ 59.2 billion – $ 67.9 billion in wage subsidies and $ 0.5 billion in ceded employer payroll contributions, offset by $ 9.1 billion. dollars in corporate income tax revenue from wage subsidies, ”it read.
The wage subsidy program, which aims to cover part of the salary of employees of companies hard hit by COVID-19, has been extended until November by Ottawa.
Initially, this program rolled out in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis aimed to cover 75% of workers’ wages, up to a maximum of $ 847 per week.
By extending the program, which was originally due to end in June, the federal government has however changed its parameters. Thus, the content of the subsidy will vary over time and according to the severity of the financial losses demonstrated by each company.
As of August 9, Ottawa had disbursed $ 26.58 billion in grants for 813,570 approved applications. The Canada Emergency Benefit is much more popular, with $ 64.26 billion spent by the state for 8.51 million Canadians.
In its report released Thursday, Mr. Giroux’s office stresses that uncertainties hover over its estimates about the wage subsidy bill.
“The relationship between business income and GDP shocks is difficult to specify for industries that do not have data on changes in income attributable to COVID¬-19, it is noted in particular. The distribution of lost income is uncertain for all industries. ”
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