• Canadians have paid $4.9 trillion in income tax since 1917 • $100 bills worth that much laid end to end would reach around the circumference of the earth 186 times
Tomorrow marks 100th anniversary of introduction of the federal income tax
OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) noted that the proposal for a ‘temporary’ War Tax Upon Incomes (which later became the Income Tax Act) was first introduced in the House of Commons by Conservative Finance Minister Sir William Thomas White on July 25, 1917, exactly 100 years ago tomorrow.
“Sir White brought in the income tax to pay for the cost of World War I but unfortunately Canadians have been stuck with it ever since,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick. “His original 11-page law with a four per cent tax rate has ballooned into today’s 3,100-page behemoth.”
