The Unit of Taxation: Current Canadian Issues

JOYCE M. CRAGO

ABSTRACT

There has been a trend in Canada, particularly since the late 1960s, toward recognizing the marital unit rather than the individual as the appropriate unit for purposes of income taxation. In this article, the author examines the profound social policy choices underlying the choice of a tax unit. She illuminates the Canadian system by comparing it and its development with the American system. She analyses the individual and family units of taxation using broad goals of a tax system and concludes that an individual system of taxation better meets the objectives of equity, neutrality and simplicity. From this ideal she goes on to show how the current Canadian tax system can be reformed by adopting the principled solution of an individual-based tax unit together with a family-based system of income maintenance.

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Citation: (1994) 52(1) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 1.
Copyright © 1994. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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