Canadians provided business with $19 billion in subsidies in 2004, the equivalent of $1,295 from each taxpayer, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute.
The figure was close to double the $10.3 billion in business subsidies distributed by governments in 1995.
According to the Vancouver-based think tank's r Corporate Welfare: A $144 Billion Addiction report, taxpayer-funded subsidies to business totalled roughly $144 billion between 1995 and 2004.
"There's no concrete evidence showing that government subsidies to business provide any net benefit to Canada's economy," said Mark Milke, the report's author.
"Instead, these subsidies merely encourage the transfer of wealth from one set of taxpayers to another."
Included in the report's list of the top 50 business subsidy recipients: the Ford Motor Company, Rolls-Royce, Noranda, IBM, General Dynamics, Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.