Now You “See” It, Now You Don’t: More Reflections on Taxable Presence In a World With Less Observable Presence

  The international tax community is consumed with re-evaluating the utility and adequacy of typical markers of international tax jurisdiction, associated among others with the tax treaty notion of “permanent establishment”.  In this context, a PE, as it is known, is a description of what is considered to be a sufficient intensity of business presence […]

Is a First Nation Sovereign if the Canada Revenue Agency Enforces its Tax Laws?

  A distinct “order” of government The 1996 Royal Commission (Commission) on Aboriginal Peoples[1] gathered information about Aboriginal perspectives on sovereignty, self-determination, and self-government. It also examined the legal and political principles that underlie and inform the emergence of an Aboriginal order of government [author’s emphasis] in Canada.  Emanating from these two information sources, the […]

Prelude to Saro Persaud and "First Nations Taxation"

  In the following post, Saro Persaud examines “international” taxation in Canada with reference to First Nations among other nations in Canada and in that connection how First Nations taxation is administered.  The situation of “first nations” in relation to other “nations” within Canada reflects  parallels unconstrained by the typical domestic Canadian political and constitutional […]

Week in Review - July 11, 2020

  Federal Government Reports $343 Billion Budget Deficit - Biggest Since Second World War:  Minister of Finance Bill Morneau revealed on Wednesday that the federal budget is expected to post a deficit of $343 billion - an unprecedented budgetary shortfall, attributed mostly to the government's response measures to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar levels of spending […]

OECD Releases New Corporate Tax Statistics - Including Data on Nearly 4000 MNE's

  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released their annual Corporate Tax Statistics publication yesterday (July 8), which includes aggregated information on the global tax and economic activities of nearly 4,000 multinational enterprise (MNE) groups headquartered in 26 jurisdictions and operating across more than 100 jurisdictions worldwide. This data released on MNE's by […]

Corporate Tax Reform for Developing Countries

  Revenues from the corporate income tax are especially important to developing countries, which, largely because of their low per capita incomes, have greater difficulty than wealthier countries in collecting broad-based taxes like the personal income tax and the VAT.  Much of the corporate tax revenue of developing countries comes from multinational companies which have […]

“Think About the Why of Spending Before the How of Paying” and Remember, “Luck Has a Lot to Do With It” – Ed Kleinbard’s Legacy

  This is not an obituary, at least it is not meant to be.  However, I suppose it could be. Ed Kleinbard is one of the most profound, straightforward and intellectually honest “thinkers” in taxation of his and our time – and I would say, given his experience with advising on, crafting and commenting on […]