{"title":"The Canadian Model for Dealing With Asylum Seekers and Refugees","authors":"H. Grubel","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3819931","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3819931","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes the system used by the government of Canada to determine the number of refugees allowed to settle in the country annually, how they are integrated into the labor market and how threats to national security are dealt with. The paper is one of several commissioned by the Swiss think tank Avenir Suisse for a project designed to permit the comparison of the policies adopted by different countries to deal with these issues in the hope that best practices can be identified and serve as models for optimum national policies.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"216 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116427890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Policy Forum: Taxing Wealth Transfers in Canada Using an Accession Tax","authors":"Graham Purse","doi":"10.32721/ctj.2020.68.3.pf.purse","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2020.68.3.pf.purse","url":null,"abstract":"Wealth transfer taxes have had a long history in Canada: the Rowell-Sirois report suggested federal administration; the Carter report emphasized the importance of including wealth transfers in income. Yet by the 1980s wealth transfer taxes had largely disappeared in Canada. This article makes the case for consideration of an accession tax, which taxes wealth transfers in the recipients' hands. An accession tax has significant administrative advantages over the annual wealth tax featured in current popular debates.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132698417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Considerations for Basic Income as a COVID-19 Response","authors":"D. Green, J. Kesselman, Lindsay M. Tedds","doi":"10.11575/sppp.v13i0.70353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11575/sppp.v13i0.70353","url":null,"abstract":"When the federal government created the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to help Canadians who had lost their jobs in the COVID-19 lockdown, it sparked renewed interest in the idea of a basic income. However, many policy questions need to be discussed and resolved in order to assess a basic income and compare it to alternative forms of social support. Careful and thorough consideration of these matters is vital in deciding whether a basic income should be implemented, and if so, how it should be done and indeed what form it should take.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115279242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Income Tax Disputes Involving Loss Years: Pitfalls, Foibles, and Possible Reforms","authors":"Michael H. Lubetsky","doi":"10.32721/ctj.2019.67.3.lubetsky","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2019.67.3.lubetsky","url":null,"abstract":"Tax disputes involving losses can be challenging to resolve owing to two longstanding principles, commonly known as \"the nil assessment rule\" and \"the New St James principle.\" The nil assessment rule bars taxpayers from objecting to assessments that result in no tax being payable--including both loss years and profitable years where income is completely offset by carryovers. The New St James principle provides, essentially, that loss years or years with no tax payable never become statute-barred.\u0000\u0000Because the nil assessment rule and the New St James principle can prevent the resolution of disputes over tax loss balances in a timely manner, Parliament amended the Income Tax Act in 1977 so as to allow, in certain situations, for the issuance by the minister of national revenue of a notice of determination of losses (NODL) for a given taxation year. Once issued, a NODL can be objected to or appealed in basically the same manner as an assessment and, subject to any objection or appeal, becomes binding upon the minister and the taxpayer.\u0000\u0000However, the existence of a parallel but distinct system for resolving loss disputes leaves gaps that result in a range of procedural traps for taxpayers. Taxpayers caught in these traps can potentially end up losing their rights to object to or appeal disputed income adjustments, reviving statute-barred issues, or being required to pay arrears interest on extinguished tax debts. This article explores some of these traps, showing how they arise and what a taxpayer might do to avoid being caught by them. It also discusses whether the time has come to reform the nil assessment rule and/or the New St James principle so as to allow disputes involving losses to be resolved more readily by the Tax Court of Canada, and proposes several possible reforms.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131413833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rationalizing the Canadian Income Tax System","authors":"Robin Boadway","doi":"10.32721/ctj.2019.67.3.sym.boadway","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2019.67.3.sym.boadway","url":null,"abstract":"The Canadian tax system is based on principles informed by the Carter report, and these principles have been challenged as circumstances have changed and ideas about tax policy have evolved. The personal tax system pays only lip service to the comprehensive income tax ideal, and the corporate tax is designed as a complement to a comprehensive tax system that does not exist. Canadian policy makers face the unprecedented challenges of (1) globalization, (2) an economy increasingly based on services and technology, and (3) growing inequality of income, wealth, and opportunity. Modern principles of tax design are reflected in recent tax reform proposals recommended by the Mirrlees review in the United Kingdom. Major tax reforms have been undertaken in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Some piecemeal innovations in tax policy have been implemented in Canada, such as registered retirement savings plans, tax-free savings accounts, the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax, and refundable tax credits, but these measures have not been coordinated. The corporate tax structure has changed only modestly. This paper explores options for feasible reform of the Canadian tax system that might enhance equity and efficiency.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127499847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Subsidies and Value-Added Tax: A Comparative Study of Law and Practice in Canada and the European Union","authors":"Robert F. van Brederode, Simon B. Thang","doi":"10.32721/ctj.2019.67.3.vanbrederode","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2019.67.3.vanbrederode","url":null,"abstract":"Value-added tax (VAT) is a tax levied on private consumption expenditures. Where VAT is levied on each transaction within the supply chain, the aim of taxing only private consumption is achieved by allowing businesses a credit to offset the VAT paid on purchases against the VAT collected on sales. This article provides a comparative study of the law and practice in the European Union and Canada regarding subsidies and VAT (in Canada, the goods and services tax). Subsidies are among the financial instruments used by governments, and sometimes private organizations, to support the realization of certain policies. This article is concerned with determining the circumstances in which subsidies may be included in the consideration paid in a transaction and may therefore be subject to VAT, and the extent to which the right to claim input tax credits can be exercised. The authors investigate these questions by discussing the nature of subsidies from the perspective of VAT principles, reviewing the statutory provisions and administrative practices in the European Union and Canada, and analyzing the relevant case law in both jurisdictions.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117111601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Income Tax in an Uncertain World: Pillar, Symbol, and Instrument","authors":"R. Bird","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3426751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3426751","url":null,"abstract":"One of the few certainties about Canada's future is that tax policy will change over time, especially, perhaps, with respect to income taxes. Exactly what changes are made will depend not only on changes in economic conditions and the concerns of the party in power but also on how we (\"the people\") think of taxes as symbols of what we are and want to be--the nature of our democracy, the extent to which we want to redistribute, and to whom, and how and to what extent we want to alter market outcomes. The author sketches this broader setting in which tax policy needs to be considered and suggests a few possible implications for future income tax reform.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122975638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Banking/Commercial Separation Doctrine in Comparative Perspective","authors":"Cristie L. Ford","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3506371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3506371","url":null,"abstract":"This report, prepared for the Department of Finance, Government of Canada, summarizes research undertaken across five jurisdictions – Australia, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US, federal level only) – with respect to a particular kind of boundary on the business of banking: the separation of banking business from commercial business. “Commercial” here means the provision of non-financial goods and services. This separation exists under what in the United States has long been referred to as the “banking/commercial separation doctrine”. The report considers the historical justifications for the doctrine in the context of the modern “business of banking”, which has changed radically over the past 30 years. It argues that the doctrine has become anachronistic. It carefully considers the regimes in jurisdictions like the UK and Australia, which have no equivalent doctrine. However, the report also argues that the systemic risk and consumer protection concerns that produced the banking/commercial separation doctrine are as real as ever. The report argues for regulating systemic risk and consumer protection risks directly and explicitly, in an evidence-based fashion, rather than relying on the proxy of a blunt, bright-line rule like the separation doctrine.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"226 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122475711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lancer une alerte au Canada: une synthèse des connaissances (Whitleblowing in Canada: A Knowledge Synthesis)","authors":"Florian Martin-Bariteau, V. Newman","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.3112688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3112688","url":null,"abstract":"The English version of this paper can be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=3111851. \u0000French Abstract: Les lanceurs d’alerte ont participe de l’evolution de nos societes democratiques modernes et de l’interet grandissant des citoyens pour la transparence et la liberte de l’information. Le developpement d’actions citoyennes et la divulgation a grande echelle d’information d’interet public ont ete facilites par Internet et l’instantaneite des reseaux sociaux. En plus de repondre au desir des citoyens d’ouverture et de transparence de la societe, la protection des lanceurs d’alerte est un moyen de gestion des risques en amont des catastrophes. En effet, par le passe, ces acteurs du changement ont revele un certain nombre de scandales relies a la sante, a l’environnement, a la finance, a la surveillance, ou encore de corruption. Dans le meme temps, les divulgations peuvent entrainer des risques pour certains citoyens. Alors que la determination de balises pour les lanceurs d’alerte apparait essentielle pour assurer une societe juste, sure et ouverte, le cadre juridique canadien est presentement incertain et flou. A defaut de connaitre les criteres de protection, leurs droits et obligations, ainsi que les risques encourus pour leur securite, les personnes informees prefereront garder le silence. La presente synthese des connaissances visait initialement a expliquer ce cadre juridique; elle souligne maintenant les lacunes du systeme juridique canadien, qui, au mieux, porte a confusion en ce qui concerne la protection des lanceurs d’alerte. L’etude souligne la necessite de reflexions et de changements critiques. \u0000English Abstract: Whistleblowers have been involved in the evolution of modern democratic societies and have spurred growing interest from citizens for transparency and freedom of information. The Internet and social networks have allowed for the development of citizen actions and large-scale disclosures of public interest information. In addition to responding to citizens’ desire for society’s openness and transparency, the protection of whistleblowers is part of risk management before disasters. In fact, in the past, these actors of change have brought a number of health, environmental, financial, surveillance, and corruption scandals to light. At the same time, disclosures may put certain citizens at risk. While the determination of whistleblowing limitations is essential to ensure a fair, secure and open society, the Canadian legal framework is uncertain and unclear. Without knowing the criteria of protection, their rights, obligations and the risks involved to their safety, informed people will not disclose. This Knowledge Synthesis initially set out to explain this framework, and now also highlights the gaps in the Canadian legal system, that is confusing at best, in regard to whistleblower protection and the need for critical reflexion and change.","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129594474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Has the City-Rural Tax Base and Land-Use Balance Changed in Alberta? Explorations into the Distribution of Equalized Property Assessments Among Municipality Classes","authors":"M. McMillan","doi":"10.11575/SPPP.V11I0.43330","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.11575/SPPP.V11I0.43330","url":null,"abstract":"Alberta ended its regional planning commissions in 1996. They were replaced by voluntary inter-municipal negotiation, but this has raised concerns about adverse effects on land use. Pressure to terminate the commissions came largely from the rural municipalities. Some of them felt the commissions retarded their economic development. They believed that in a less restrictive planning environment, they would be able to attract a greater share of development, especially business. This study assesses the consequences of that change. Alberta’s rapid growth over much of the post-1995 period affords an exceptional opportunity to search for noticeable changes in the urban-rural tax base and land-use patterns and balance.Municipal tax base is measured, and land use reflected, by property values. Those values are taken to be the provincially determined equalized assessments used for property tax purposes. Fortunately, these provide a reliable and consistent measure of property values across municipalities and over time for properties of different kinds. For the types of properties of prime interest for this analysis, residential and unregulated business property, equalized assessments approximate 100 per cent of market value. Residential property represents over 60 per cent of total provincial equalized assessments and business property about 20 per cent. In cities, the percentages are 70 per cent and 24 per cent; residential and business properties represent almost all the taxable property. The focus of the analysis is whether, during the past two decades, the shares of residential and/or business property have shifted from cities to rural municipalities. The possibility of shifting city-rural tax base/land-use patterns is explored from four perspectives. This report examines trends in the distribution of residential and business equalized assessments among the types of municipalities in the province. To obtain a better perspective in specific cases, the city-rural split of assessments is reported for the Edmonton and Calgary metropolitan areas and nine cities between 1997 and 2014. Examining the movements in the ratios of business to residential assessments of 31 city and rural municipalities provides further insight. The final approach is to simply review changes in the location of population and dwellings between cities and rural areas. There has been no notable or general shift of land development away from cities and to rural areas. Despite the rapid growth and the devolved planning environment, the cityversus-rural distribution of tax base and land use has, overall, been remarkably constant although development was definitely not uniform across Alberta cities. If anything, the cities’ shares of residential development may have increased while their shares of business development have been more uneven. For both types of property, however, the development patterns have varied across both city and rural municipalities. Concern that the changed planning ","PeriodicalId":370614,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Canadian Law - Public Law (Topic)","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116911473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}