Taxes on Products and Imports Net of Subsidies (TOPS)

*This definition only applies to the Canadian and International Data Sets*

The difference between taxes on products and subsidies on products. These taxes and subsidies are payable (received) based on the quantity or value of the goods and services produced or sold.

The tax or subsidy may be a specific amount of money per unit of quantity of a good or service (the quantity units being measured either in terms of discrete units or continuous physical variables such as volume, weight, strength, distance, time, etc.), or it may be calculated ad valorem as a specified percentage of the price per unit or value of the goods or services transacted. A tax or subsidy on a product usually becomes payable when it is produced, sold or imported, but it may also become payable in other circumstances, such as when a good is exported, leased, transferred, delivered, or used for own consumption or own capital formation. 

TOPS is relevant to IMPLAN’s Canada Provincial and International Products, which are valued in Basic Prices. Learn more in Components of Value Added and the TOPS Account

Additional resources: System of National Accounts 2008; Statistics Canada Glossary