Commons and Senate Committees Comment on Tax Reform

CIM Bulletin, 1971

The Federal Government's White Paper on Tax Reform received further major criticism in the reports of the Committees of the House of Commons and the Senate, which recently completed a lengthy review including public hearings of the government's proposals. These reports both criticized the emphasis placed by the White Paper on its concept of tax equity rather than on a system which would promote economic growth. However, the Finance Committee of the House of Commons was prepared to accept, with modifications, a number of the White Paper's key reform proposals. The Senate Finance Committee was more critical of the basic thrust of the tax reform program and recommended that a modification of the existing tax system would be more appropriate to Canada's needs. Both Committees recommended a more favourable treatment of mining income than that originally proposed in the White Paper, and to some extent both Committees suggested proposals that were even more favourable to the industry than those set out in Finance Minister Benson's amended proposals made in August of this year. This article outlines the principal recommendations and comments in the reports of both the House of Commons Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.

Keywords: Canadian, Canadian, capital gains tax, House of Commons, taxable income, White Paper, Cost, Costs, Development, Developments, Incentives, Mine, Reports, Resources, Systems