Le Canada, pays numéro un pour les affaires

[WestAust]

Le Canada est passé de la quatrième à la première place dans la liste des pays offrant les meilleures conditions pour faire des affaires, selon le classement du magazine américain Forbes.

 

C’est l’amélioration du système fiscal, l’absence de lourdeurs bureaucratiques, une protection efficace des investisseurs, ainsi que des banques avisées qui ont permis au Canada de grimper les échelons et de détrôner le Danemark du haut du classement.

 

Dans le sous-classement des systèmes fiscaux, le Canada est passé du 23e rang au 9e rang grâce à la réduction des taux d’imposition pour les employés et pour les entreprises, et grâce à la taxe de vente harmonisée (TVH) en Ontario et en Colombie-Britannique. La Colombie-Britannique a toutefois, depuis, supprimé la TVH.

 

« Alors que les États-Unis sont paralysés par la crainte d’une récession à double creux et que l’Europe se débat avec le problème de la dette souveraine, l’économie canadienne s’est mieux comportée que la plupart, peut-on lire dans le magazine. L’économie du Canada, qui se chiffre à 1,6 billion $, est la neuvième du monde et a augmenté de 31 %, l’an dernier. Elle devrait grimper de 2,4 % en 2011, selon la Banque Royale du Canada. »

 

Pour établir sa liste, le magazine Forbes étudie 11 paramètres d’ordre économique et passe 134 pays au crible.

 

Le Danemark, ex-numéro un, est passé à la cinquième place en raison d’un manque de fluidité sur le plan monétaire et de la dégringolade de ses marchés financiers, l’an dernier.

 

La Nouvelle-Zélande se classe deuxième, alors que Hong Kong occupe la troisième place. L’Irlande, bien qu’elle soit confrontée elle aussi à la crise de la dette en Europe, arrive en quatrième position.

 

Les États-Unis sont, de leur côté, passé de la 9e place à la 10e place, principalement en raison d’un fardeau fiscal trop important, a expliqué Forbes. Selon le magazine, les États-Unis font même pire que le Japon sur ce point.

 

En queue de liste, on trouve le Burundi, le Zimbabwe et le Tchad.

 

http://argent.canoe.ca/lca/affaires/canada/archives/2011/10/20111004-175320.html

[WestAust]

Article original de Forbes

 

The Best Countries For Business

 

During the run-up to every U.S. presidential election, countless Americans threaten to move to Canada if their preferred candidate does not emerge victorious. Of course, few follow through with a move north. Maybe it is time to reconsider.

 

Canada ranks No. 1 in our annual look at the Best Countries for Business. While the U.S. is paralyzed by fears of a double-dip recession and Europe struggles with sovereign debt issues, Canada’s economy has held up better than most. The $1.6 trillion economy is the ninth biggest in the world and grew 3.1% last year. It is expected to expand 2.4% in 2011, according to the Royal Bank of Canada.

 

Canada skirted the banking meltdown that plagued the U.S. and Europe. Banks like Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal avoided bailouts and were profitable during the financial crises that started in 2007. Canadian banks emerged from the tumult among the strongest in the world thanks to their conservative lending practices.

 

Canada is the only country that ranks in the top 20 in 10 metrics that we considered to determine the Best Countries for Business (we factored in 11 overall). It ranks in the top five for both investor protection as well as lack of red tape, which measures how easy it is to start a business.

Full List: The Best Countries For Business

 

Canada moves up from No. 4 in last year’s ranking thanks to its improved tax standing. It ranks ninth overall for tax burden compared to No. 23 in 2010. Credit a reformed tax structure with a Harmonized Sales Tax introduced in Ontario and British Columbia in 2010. The goal is to make Canadian businesses more competitive. Canada’s tax status also improved thanks to reduced corporate and employee tax rates.

 

Canada leans on the U.S. economy heavily: it’s the biggest oil supplier to Uncle Sam and three-quarters of its exports end up in the U.S. each year. Yet while U.S. unemployment has stayed above 9%, it’s only 7.3% in Canada compared to the 25-year average of 8.5%. The eurozone unemployment rate is 10%.

 

We determined the Best Countries for Business by looking at 11 different factors for 134 countries. We considered property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

 

Forbes leaned on research and published reports from the Central Intelligence Agency, Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, the World Bank and World Economic Forum to compile the rankings.

 

Denmark dropped from the top spot in 2010 to No. 5 this year as its relative monetary freedom declined as measured by the Heritage Foundation. Denmark’s stock market also fell 14%, which was the worst performance of any of our top 10 countries. Four other European countries in last year’s top 20 also dropped in the rankings, with Finland sliding to No. 13, the Netherlands to No. 15 Netherlands, Germany to No. 21 and Iceland to No. 23.

 

The U.S. ranked No. 10, down from No. 9 in 2010. The world’s largest economy at $14.7 trillion continues to be one of the most innovative, ranking sixth in patents per capita among all countries (No.7 overall Sweden ranks tops for innovation).

 

What hurts the U.S. is its heavy tax burden. This year it surpassed Japan to have the highest corporate tax rate among developed countries. The U.S. also gets dinged for a poor showing on monetary freedom as measured by the Heritage Foundation. Heritage gauges price stability and price controls and the U.S. ranks No. 50 out of 134 countries.

 

Bringing up the rear are three countries where the economies are smaller than $10 billion. No. 132 Burundi, No. 133 Zimbabwe and No. 134 Chad all fare poorly when it comes to trade and monetary freedom as well as innovation and technology. Chad has the highest GDP per capita of the three at $1,600, but scores last among all countries on both corruption and red tape.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/10/03/the-best-countries-for-business/

[jesseps]

Yay finally. Now to become number one in other things again, like the UN HDI. We haven't been #1 in that for years, we need to upstage those Norwegians and Aussies.

[Robertpuant]

J'ai arrêté de lire à Forbes.