Robson, Laurin and Dahir - Capital gains tax hike is another fulfillment fiasco in the making
Published in the Financial Post
It is 29 days since the 2024 federal budget announced major changes to capital-gains taxes. Their centrepiece, replete with "make-the-rich-pay” rhetoric, was higher inclusion rates. Other announcements, framed (with no apparent sense of irony) as supporting risk-taking and investment, promised a lower inclusion rate on some gains for some business owners and an increase in the lifetime capital-gains exemption for Canadian owners of farming and fishing properties and small businesses. The budget said many of these changes, most notably the higher inclusion rates, would take effect on June 25.
June 25 is now only 41 days away. That timeline is a big problem, getting bigger every day. Right now,…
Published in the Globe and Mail
Throughout my career, the Income Tax Act has grown increasingly complex – complicating even the simplest transactions. This underscores the need for a thorough review of the ITA.
That’s a sentiment shared by CPA Canada in our 2024 pre-budget submission, which recommended prioritizing a principled approach to tax policy and administration that is driven by purpose and vision. After all, simplicity, fairness, efficiency and competitiveness are among the most basic principles of a good tax system.
Unfortunately, recent approaches to specific tax issues have created rules that escalate compliance costs and administrative burdens, often involving excessive and needless reporting. While tax…
Published in the Financial Post
Though only Canada’s tiny interprovincial trade community noticed, in last month’s budget the federal government committed to working on reducing internal trade barriers and outlined concrete next steps that could make a tangible impact.
Provincial protectionism, regulatory capture by interest groups, intra-governmental turf wars, collective action problems, and humankind’s general default to inertia have plagued domestic trade liberalization since Confederation. Strong central leadership has always been key to reform, and Ottawa finally seems to be rolling up its sleeves on one of the most intractable issues facing our economic union.
New vocabulary in what has become an obligatory…
