This study examines the problem of form and substance in Canadian tax jurisprudence, which has been characterized by a troubling equivocation between formalistic and substantive approaches in cases involving tax avoidance transactions with the current period of jurisprudence dominated by formalism. The vacillation of Canadian jurisprudence contrasts with the consistently substantive tax jurisprudence of the United States. The latter situation discloses an unresolved doctrinal tension in Canadian tax jurisprudence between two viable doctrinal alternatives. This study seeks to resolve the problem of form and substance by finding the right answer to the problem by examining the tax policy, political, and legal philosophical implications of formalistic jurisprudence along with the manner in which the legal system as a whole (i.e. jurisprudence outside of tax law) rationally employs both form and substance for distinct purposes to solve distinct kinds of legal problems. Using the principles that are implied in the practices of the legal system as a whole, a right answer to the form and substance problem — one that is horizontally consistent or integral with the whole — suggest itself, namely that substantive, judge-made standards are the right solution to the problem of form and substance in Canadian tax jurisprudence and that formalism in tax jurisprudence is a legal aberration in the Canadian legal system.

This thesis looks at legal mechanisms allowing the non-collection of tax debts in the tax systems of Canada and the United States. The goal is to shed light on the choices made in Canada’s tax collection system by juxtaposing it with the American system. The comparison reveals differences in the ways in which the two jurisdictions allow taxpayers to participate in the tax system and differences in how the two jurisdictions choose to make decisions about the forgiveness of tax debts. Although Canada has generally rejected the idea of compromise within the tax system, there is a tax policy case to be made in favour of the compromise of tax debts in certain situations.

In the Credit Lyonnais case, the CJEU concluded that the proportion of input VAT deduction on mixed-use goods and services is to be calculated by taking into account the output supplies carried out by establishments located within the same territory only. This interpretation of the VAT Directive leads to a different treatment of domestic and foreign branches and is, hence, questionable in the light of the freedom of establishment. This paper analyses the impact of the fundamental freedoms on VAT law in general and possible reasons behind the interpretation chosen by the Court in the Credit Lyonnais case more specifically.

This study examines the problem of form and substance in Canadian tax jurisprudence, which has been characterized by a troubling equivocation between formalistic and substantive approaches in cases involving tax avoidance transactions with the current period of jurisprudence dominated by formalism. The vacillation of Canadian jurisprudence contrasts with the consistently substantive tax jurisprudence of the United States. The latter situation discloses an unresolved doctrinal tension in Canadian tax jurisprudence between two viable doctrinal alternatives. This study seeks to resolve the problem of form and substance by finding the right answer to the problem by examining the tax policy, political, and legal philosophical implications of formalistic jurisprudence along with the manner in which the legal system as a whole (i.e. jurisprudence outside of tax law) rationally employs both form and substance for distinct purposes to solve distinct kinds of legal problems. Using the principles that are implied in the practices of the legal system as a whole, a right answer to the form and substance problem — one that is horizontally consistent or integral with the whole — suggest itself, namely that substantive, judge-made standards are the right solution to the problem of form and substance in Canadian tax jurisprudence and that formalism in tax jurisprudence is a legal aberration in the Canadian legal system. / Law, Faculty of / Graduate

In law, neutrality is now a postulate and this is particularly true about Social Tax Expenditures (STEs) which are tax measures with a redistributive goal, similar to welfare benefits. Hence, taxation and the welfare state are closely connected insofar as STEs are part of the welfare system. But they are introduced within a context of apparent gender-neutrality. Tax law takes little account of gender in the implementation of tax policy. Moreover, the normative criteria for the analysis of tax regimes include concepts such as equity—which suggests that taxpayers in the same position should be treated the same way. We see the potential for a clash of interests between social policy and the founding principles of taxation. The risk is of being unable to account for gender in tax law. My thesis therefore seeks to answer this research question: does the STEs and tax policy discourse relating to STEs contain gender assumptions on the role of women that could, in their subsequent implementation, affect women’s relationship to the STEs? They may be written in gender-neutral terms, they may not consider gender in their implementation. A purely positivistic approach would not highlight how the increasing importance of neutrality in the construction and implementation of law may hide important assumptions about women. Law is an institution and a discourse that has the potential of constructing identities and norms. What is conceived as a neutral or objective approach to law has often been criticized as mirroring the experience, values and reality of the majority. Therefore, law, as a discourse, can perpetuate values, according to an ideal imposed by the majority, neglecting those of minority groups. In a critical approach to this apparent neutrality, the study of the relationship between power and knowledge is necessary. A critical approach from a gender perspective will highlight how women’s identity can be constructed through the tax policy discourse. At the theoretical level, the intimate relationship STEs share with welfare programmes requires that they be examined using a conceptual framework similar to that which is used to examine other benefits of the welfare state. First, I used this literature to organize the discourse analysis according to the three discursive periods regarding the welfare state. Secondly, the themes for the discourse analysis were also identified from the welfare state literature. Empirically, I conducted a thematic discourse analysis of those STEs using budgetary papers, debates in the House of Commons, and other documents emanating from the government outlining the legislative intent. Results indicate that the discourse around STEs is limited to a conversation in terms of the technical aspect of the law which limits the potential for the discourse in terms of welfare provision. This thesis also reveal that the tax policy discourse in relation to STEs is not gender-neutral. In constructing STEs, various assumptions are made about women and their role in society.

M.Com. (Taxation) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-139). / By comparing the income tax allowances and deductions for private investors in film production funds in Germany and in South Africa, the author aims to show how the governments of these two countries are taxing private individuals who invest in film funds, i.e. what incentives are offered to such venturesome investors. The tax incentives examined here provide the taxpayer with a deferment of his tax payments. By making the comparison the author intends examine what role a domestic film fund can play as an instrument for financing domestic and export films and how the government can promote film production in this way.

No description available.

Notion de revenu et de perte Compensation des pertes et annualité de l'impôt Compensation des pertes et territorialité de l'impôt Analyse comparative des législations belge, française et néerlandaise Notion of income and loss Loss compensation and principle of annuality Loss compensation and territoriality Comparative analysis of the Belgian, French and Dutch tax legislations

The thesis tries to provide an answer to the problem of tax avoidance. For this purpose a reinterpretation of taxes as practices of mutual recognition is defended. The conception of taxation and tax law defended in the thesis contrast sharply to the merely instrumental or functional conceptions of taxation and tax law that dominates today’s common understanding of taxation and tax law. The thesis lays out the basis for a new general theory of tax law, but does not develop in detail each of the elements of such a theory. The thesis first lays out the problem by analysing different definitions of tax avoidance, tax evasion, and tax planning, as well as their shortcomings. From that discussion, it emerges that the ways in which tax avoidance has been conceptualised are not only unclear but they also fail to produce any relevant insight into the problem of tax avoidance. The thesis then relates those shortcomings to what it calls the classical paradigm of tax law, which leads, in turn, to the contemporary general theory of tax law. A combination of these conceptions – of the substance (function) and form of tax law – explains that the structure of tax law is based on a conception of the obligation to pay taxes in which there is space for tax avoidance. The thesis argues that, in doing so, the purpose of tax law is defeated. Recent alternatives to the contemporary general theory are also analysed and critically evaluated. The second part of the thesis develops the positive aspect of the argument, in three connected moves. First, an argument is provided to prove that both liberal egalitarian and luck egalitarian theories of justice are not able to offer an answer to tax avoidance because they consider taxes and tax law to be mere instruments for redistribution. Second, a substantive reinterpretation of taxation as a practice with an internal good is presented, in which mutual recognition is defended as taxation’s internal good. Finally, an argument for the thesis that the best possible understanding of tax law requires us to interpret it as a teleological institution is provided. With this positive programme, the thesis aims at providing a superior alternative to the merely instrumental conception of taxation and tax law that derives from the classical paradigm presented at the outset. Its superiority is evidenced by the fact that the alternative provided can offer us the conceptual resources to understand the problem of tax avoidance and hence of what tax law is about.