29 April 2015Canadians are forced to wrestle with a "byzantine" tax system that is more complicated ...

1. Tax-News.com: Canada's Tax System Becoming More
Complex
29 April 2015
Canadians are forced to wrestle with a "byzantine" tax system that is more complicated than it was
in the 1990s, a new study by the Fraser Institute, a think tank, has found.
Charles Lammam, Director of Fiscal Studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Measuring Tax
Complexity in Canada, said: "What's clear is that all indicators point to an increase in federal tax
complexity for Canadian families, businesses, and even governments. A worthwhile goal is to
simplify the tax system, making it easier to understand and less expensive in time and money."
According to the Institute, the text area (the number of pages multiplied by the size of the pages)
occupied by the federal Income Tax Act increased from 974,050 cm2 in 1990 to 1,575,537 cm2 in
2014. Canada's tax laws now cover 62 percent more space than they did in the 1990s.

2. Between 1991 and 2011, the number of personal income tax expenditures - which include the
credits, deductions, exemptions, and exclusions available to Canadians - increased from 105 to 123.
The number of corporate tax expenditures rose from 48 to 64. The Fraser Institute also said that the
rising number of goods and services tax (GST)-related court cases suggests a growing intricacy in
the country's sales tax laws. In 2011 there were 499 cases on GST matters, up from 320 in 1993.
"Canadian families and businesses incur significant costs to comply with the tax system, including
time and direct spending on accountants, lawyers, and computer software packages. A key factor
driving these costs is the complexity of our tax system," Lammam said.
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