A threshold issue for the design of any tax system is the taxing unit. In Canada our taxing unit for personal taxation is and has always been the individual. The Carter Commission recommended we change the taxing unit to families (spouses and their dependent children) on the grounds that families constitute the basic economic […]
Canadian News
A One-Off Wealth Tax for the United Kingdom (and Canada)?
The Wealth Tax Commission recommended a one-off (as opposed to an annual) wealth tax for the United Kingdom (UK) in a report released on December 9, 2020 (see A Wealth Tax for the UK). The main rationales are to raise tax revenues to address the financial pressures owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to reduce inequality […]
Professor Jinyan Li's Commentary on the Pillar One Blueprint Published by OECD - Access Here
The OECD/G20 invited comments from the public on the Pillar One Blueprint and Pillar Two Blueprint, which were both published on October 12th, 2020. Pillar One is about allocating more taxing rights to market jurisdictions in respect of income derived from automated digital services and consumer facing businesses. It is achieved through a new […]
COVID and "Infrastructure"
The recent appointment of Michael Sabia as the new Deputy Minister of Finance invites reflection on what his personal experience and evident policy inclinations might mean for the economic reconstruction necessary to recover from the fiscal strains imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a former government role and evidently in a prior private business […]
Key Takeaways from the Report of the UK Wealth Tax Commission
Faced with significant government spending to tackle Covid-19 in the UK, the UK Wealth Tax Commission was set up to explore the desirability and feasibility of a wealth tax. The final report was issued on 9th December 2020.[1] The Evidence Papers are available here.[2] The proposal was to implement a one-off wealth tax of […]
“Modernizing the General Anti-Avoidance Rule” in the Fall Economic Update: Time for An Economic Substance Doctrine?
On November 30, 2020, the Government of Canada released its Fall Economic Statement 2020. The Statement is titled “Supporting Canadians and Fighting COVID-19” and part of Chapter 4 addresses “modernizing anti-avoidance rules”. In one short paragraph, the Government of Canada expresses concerns about any complex tax structure “that does not serve an economic purpose, […]
Blueprints for A Parallel Tax Universe
Blueprints for a new international tax regime fit for the digitalizing global economy were published by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS (the Inclusive Framework) on October 12, 2020. Because the new regime represents “global law” and introduces concepts and rules not found in existing domestic and treaty laws, a parallel tax universe is […]
Are Gig Workers Independent Contractors or Employees?
On November 3, 2020, Californians approved Proposition 22 exempting gig companies from legislation classifying their workers as employees. The ballot initiative was the most expensive in the State’s history with Uber and its allies spending over $200 million to achieve 58% of the vote. It undermines Assembly Bill 5, which presumes workers to be […]
The Supreme Court's Accumulating Tax Brief - To What End?
A question that has lingered through the Summer and into the Fall has been answered in the last couple of days. Leave of the Supreme Court of Canada has been sought by the tax authorities to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal's early Summer decision in Cameco. If the Supreme Court grants leave, it […]
Resurrecting the Advisory Panel’s Recommendation for a Full Exemption System
For some time there has been debate about our current system of providing double tax relief for foreign-source active business income earned by Canadian corporations indirectly through foreign affiliates. In the 1970’s the drafters of the Act chose a hybrid mechanism using both the exemption and credit systems. But this requires surplus account tracking, […]