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29
Oct
2017
I’m not convinced that even professional accountants fully understand all the 2700 pages of ifs, ands, and maybes in Canadian tax law.
Half a century ago, in 1967, the Carter Royal Commission on Taxation recommended a simple formula: “A buck is a buck.”
Kenneth Carter, a Toronto accountant, was appointed by the John Diefenbaker government in 1962 to study Canada’s income tax mess. Business leaders argued that the Canadian tax system was “unfair and needed reform” – even though it was vastly simpler then than it is now.
Five years later, in February of Canada’s Centennial year, Carter presented the government with a revolutionary report.
It said, basically, that it shouldn’t matter how you earned your income -- hourly wages, salaries, stock market, or real estate speculation. It could be from gambling, or even crime. If you made money, you paid tax on it. Period.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: Morneau, income taxes, Carter Commission, tax reform