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11 Tax Memo 1 (1956)

handle is hein.journals/taxmmo11 and id is 1 raw text is: TAX MEMO No. 11 March, 1956 GORDON COMMISSION BRIEF Statement to the Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects Presented by J. A. Wilson, Chairman, and J. Harvey Perry, Director. Ottawa, March 8, 1956 PURPOSE OF STATEMENT The Canadian Tax Foundation welcomes the opportunity of making a statement before this Commission on some aspects of taxation which may be of importance in relation to future economic prospects in Canada. This statement is limited to matters of general importance, and avoids, as far as possible, reference to individual cases. As you are no doubt aware, the Foundation is sponsored by members of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and by members of the Canadian Bar Association and receives financial support from some 700 corporations and 1200 indi- viduals. The Foundation is basically a research organization aiming its efforts at producing impar- tial expert research into problems relating to taxa- tion and government finance. The observations contained in this statement are made quite inde- pendently of the individual views of supporting members, having regard to the general interest of Canada as a whole and not the interests of any particular individual or group. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS 1. The growth of social welfare expenses and defence spending has brought about in the past fifteen years an unprecedented level of expenditures in relation to national income, and rates of taxation are very high today by previous peacetime stand- rds. To predict with any accuracy what the future ,Will bring in taxes is impossible without a great deal more information than is at present available and is dependent upon major government policies, some of which may be influenced by the report of your Commission. No attempt has been made to work out a precise forecast for purposes of this presentation, but the assumption is made that in the foreseeable future taxation will remain an important factor in economic progress. This assumption does not eliminate the possibility of rate reductions-perhaps even substantial reduc- tions under certain circumstances - but it does imply that tax rates will remain at a level where they will continue to be a strong influence on economic development. 2. This presentation deals only with the imme- diate impact of taxation on economic development and business decisions. The discussion of issues relating to the ultimate incidence of taxation, the overall shape of the tax structure, the allocation of tax sources between levels of government, the comparative weight of taxation between Canada and other countries, the role of fiscal policy under conditions of war, inflation or deflation, the use of taxation for incentive or disincentive purposes, the role of transfer payments in the modern budget, and many similar matters appear to be too broad to deal with adequately in a submission of this kind. It goes without saying that these are all of crucial importance in relation to economic progress. The rate of tax alone is seldom the only factor to be considered in looking forward. The incidence and nature of the tax are of prime importance since considerable influence can be brought to bear by a tax applied in a particular place or a particular Additional copies of this Memo may be obtained on request CANADIAN TAX FOUNDATION

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