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 narcotaxi s — a medical ailment

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

the law, causes glassy eye s, loss of bodily feeling and a shal low coma.

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

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

of their class.

This text introduces students a nd 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 a re not always obvious,

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

toward purposive statutory inter pretation, 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,”