1917 for Canadians. History matters. Learn it.

Most Canadians don't realize this, but before 1917 there was no such thing as an Income Tax. It was imposed on the Canadian people at that time as a temporary measure to pay for the War.

Believing that politicians had any legitimate claim to confiscate any portion of a person's productive income just wasn't a reality at that time. it would have been considered tyrannical to do so back then.

#TaxationIsTheft

However, as we can clearly see over 100 years later, Canadians have come to not only accept forced income redistribution, but at vastly higher levels than back then. Nowadays, the typical Canadian family is forced to pay more in taxes than they spend on the necessities of life.

When governments strive to gain more power over the people, it is never a temporary act that goes away. In light of the massive power grab by the federal and provincial governments as a response to COVID-19, I don't see Canadians truly gaining all those freedoms lost once again. I do hope to be proven wrong, but based on how Canadians have acted so far, after a full year of this madness, it's not looking good.

A little history on The Income War Tax Act of 1917.

A Temporary Wartime Measure? Income Tax

The First World War placed an unprecedented drain upon the financial resources of the Dominion of Canada. To better utilize Canada's finite resources, every aspect of supply was regulated by the Dominion Government. Rationing was introduced for everyday items from building materials to gasoline, to food. The government, limited in the ways that new revenue could by gained, also issued wartime savings bonds, raised import tariffs and levied new wartime taxes.

A luxury tax on tobacco and alcohol was the first of many taxes to be introduced during the Great War. By 1915, a Dominion tax had also been imposed on transport tickets, telegrams, money orders, cheques and patent medicines. Even staple items, such as tea and coffee, were taxed by the end of the War. After initial goods and services taxes were introduced, the Dominion Government moved to tax the incomes of businesses. The Business Profits War Tax Act of 1916 required all Canadian corporations having $50,000, or more, in capital to file a yearly tax return.

Personal income tax, introduced under the Income War Tax Act of 1917, was conceived -- like the other wartime taxes -- as a temporary measure. This act both expanded the scope of the Business Profits War Tax and introduced a tax based on yearly income to most Canadians. Those individuals who were exempt from the tax included the Governor General, foreign consuls, and those who were on active service overseas. Married Canadians with an income below $2,000, or unmarried Canadians with an income below $1,000 were also exempt from filing a tax return. Under the Income War Tax Act, eligible tax payers that did not submit a tax return were fined $100 per day with a maximum penalty of $10,000. This was an incredible fine considering, for example, that an annual married income of $3,000 was only expected to pay $20 in income tax!

#canada