The Income Tax in an Uncertain World: Pillar, Symbol, and Instrument

Abstract

One of the few certainties about Canada's future is that tax policy will change over time, especially, perhaps, with respect to income taxes. Exactly what changes are made will depend not only on changes in economic conditions and the concerns of the party in power but also on how we ("the people") think of taxes as symbols of what we are and want to be--the nature of our democracy, the extent to which we want to redistribute, and to whom, and how and to what extent we want to alter market outcomes. The author sketches this broader setting in which tax policy needs to be considered and suggests a few possible implications for future income tax reform.