Preface

• Author: Vern Krishna
• Profession: Professor of Common Law, University of Ottawa Barrister at Law
• Pages: 37-39

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PR EFAC E

The Income Tax Act is a public policy statute with broad socio-economic

impact and is the most perva sive of all economic laws. It affects individ-

uals and corporations in every aspect of their personal lives and busi-

ness activities. It affects all transactions — domestic and international,

legal or illegal — that involve an exchange of goods, services or intel-

lectual property.

Notwithstanding its pervasive inf‌luence, tax law engenders para-

noia and fear in students, who develop narcotaxis — a medical ailment

that, within thirty seconds of hearing their professors begin to explain

the law, causes glassy eyes, loss of bodily feeling and a shallow coma.

The symptoms last for nearly ninety minutes. Fortunately, the condi-

tion is not enduring and most students recover completely by the end

of their class.

This text introduces students and practitioners to income tax law

in its broadest dimensions. It addresses the subject matter based on

principles, policy and practice. The objective is to explai n what the law

is and, more importantly, why it is the way it is, and how it works (or

does not work). The answers to these questions are not always obvious,

but they are becoming increasi ngly important as we move, albeit slowly,

toward purposive statutory interpretation, particularly in the venue of

the general anti-avoidance rule.

The Income Tax Act is poorly drafted, uses obtuse language with cir-

cular def‌initions and cont ains sentences with mini mal punctuation. For

example, an “avoidance transaction” is one that confers a “tax benef‌it,”