Canadian provincial governments have broad authority to impose direct taxes by passing enabling legislation in their respective legislatures. Governments may also use regulation to set fees, for example, to recover the cost of services they provide, but cannot use regulation to impose taxes that...

The General Anti-Avoidance Rule (the GAAR) was originally introduced in Canadian income tax law in 1988 with prospective effect. The GAAR was amended in May 2005 to broaden its scope (by bringing under its ambit the regulations, treaties, etc.) and to lessen the burden of persuasion faced by the...

This article examines a specific category of legal transfers between the United Kingdom and Canada, considering the legacy of UK tax concepts in Canadian income tax law. Two main areas are considered where, in our view, this influence has been most profound: (i) the concept of income deployed...

Over the past 25 years, the justices of the Supreme Court of Canada have not exhibited the divergent policy views along party lines that have been characteristic of the justices of the United States Supreme Court. This apparent lack of partisan polarization in Canada may at first give rise to...

This paper examines how justices on the Supreme Court of Canada voted in Charter appeals between 2000 and 2009. Charter appeals, at least in popular belief (and possibly also in theory), have the greatest potential to reveal voting that is influenced by extra-legal policy preferences. Confining...

Tax-free savings accounts (quot;TFSAsquot;) became available in Canada in January 2009. A TFSA is a quot;tax prepaidquot; or quot;yield-exemptquot; investment account that does not provide any deduction for contributions and allows for tax-free compounding of investment returns in addition to...

This article analyzes the economic benefits and costs of the income trust vehicle for entrepreneurs organizing their business affairs. In doing so it examines the precise nature of the relationships between capital structure, income taxes and income trusts, reaching the conclusion that neither...