Tax Aspects of Canadian Fiscal Federalism

Abstract

In the constitutional moment known to Canadians as Confederation, in 1867 the UK Parliament passed the British North America Act, 1867 (now known as the Constitution Act, 1867), thereby creating the Dominion of Canada. From the time of Confederation, there have been, broadly speaking, two sets of issues addressed through Canadian federalism - cultural issues and economic issues. The cultural issues most prominently relate to the means of mutually accommodating Canada's "two solitudes" - the English and French heritages of the country. The economic issues relate to monetary and fiscal policies, the regulation of internal and external trade, and the governance of economic relationships within Canada. This paper focuses on just a subset of the economic issues. More specifically, this paper focuses on the tax aspects of Canadian fiscal federalism.