Income Tax Reform in Canada: The Report of the Royal Commission on Taxation

Abstract

The 1966 Report of the Royal Commission on Taxation,' established with a sweeping mandate to examine the federal tax laws of Canada and to make recommendations for their improvement, has few peers among modern proposals for income tax reform. Its only rivals in this country are the two collections of tax reform proposals assembled in 1955 and 1959 by the Joint Economic Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, which could range more speculatively over the tax landscape because they consisted of separate papers submitted by a medley of experts, but which for the same reason lacked the cohesiveness that marks the Canadian Commission's program. The 1953-1955 reports of the British Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Income are of comparable interest and quality, but they lack the boldness of the Canadian report, and at points require such a familiarity with the details of the United Kingdom's existing income tax law as to discourage the outsider. The only other comparable projects with which I am familiar are the 1949 recommendations of the Shoup Mission for the reform of the Japanese tax system and Nicholas Kaldor's 1954 prescription for India; neither has received the attention it deserves, the former having been discounted because of its military sponsorship and the latter because of assumption that a plan devised for India would inevitably be destined for exhibition rather than use and hence would not have to be anchored in reality. The talent contributing to the American Law Institute's Federal Income Tax Project of the early 1950's could have produced a landmark of analysis and innovation, but its objective was an improvement of the technical provisions of the present income tax statute and it was faithful to this limited commitment.2