CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
1917 - Income tax first introduced in Canada as temporary measure to finance Canadian troops in World War I.
Jan 1, 1972 - Major revisions to Income Tax Act and introduction of taxation of capital gains.
1988 - Significant changes to personal and corporate taxation, including conversion of many personal tax deductions from income to income tax credits. (effectively increasing taxation for all but low rate individual taxpayers)
AUTHORITY TO LEVY INCOME TAXES:
British North America Act,1867 (renamed Constitution Act, 1867 in 1981) whereby Great Britain agreed to allow Canada to become self-governing, granted authority to federal and provincial powers to impose income taxes.
CLASSIFICATION OF TAXES BY NATURE OF TAX LEVY:
Flat tax - Rate of tax is fixed, irrespective of income level.
Eg. Corporate income tax in Canada.(affected by type of corporation and type of income, but not amount of income)
Progressive tax - Rate of tax increases as income level increases.
Eg. Personal income tax in Canada. (see current tax brackets in reference tables at front of Income Tax Act)
Regressive tax - Rate of tax decreases as income level increases.
Eg. Sales taxes such as PST and GST in Canada. (high income earners spend a smaller proportion of their income on items subject to sales taxes)
A commonly accepted characteristic of income taxation is that those with higher incomes have a greater ability to pay and therefore should bear a greater proportion of the tax burden. ("tax the rich") Therefore regressive income taxa ...