• Information Technology
  • Human Resources
  • Careers
  • Giving
  • Library
  • Bookstore
  • Active Living
  • Continuing Education
  • Go Dinos
  • UCalgary Maps
  • UCalgary Directory
  • Academic Calendar
My UCalgary
Webmail
D2L
ARCHIBUS
IRISS
  • Faculty of Arts
  • Cumming School of Medicine
  • Faculty of Environmental Design
  • Faculty of Graduate Studies
  • Haskayne School of Business
  • Faculty of Kinesiology
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Nursing
  • Faculty of Nursing (Qatar)
  • Schulich School of Engineering
  • Faculty of Science
  • Faculty of Social Work
  • Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
  • Werklund School of Education
  • Information TechnologiesIT
  • Human ResourcesHR
  • Careers
  • Giving
  • Library
  • Bookstore
  • Active Living
  • Continuing Education
  • Go Dinos
  • UCalgary Maps
  • UCalgary Directory
  • Academic Calendar
  • Libraries and Cultural Resources
View Item 
  •   PRISM Home
  • Haskayne School of Business
  • Haskayne School of Business Research & Publications
  • View Item
  •   PRISM Home
  • Haskayne School of Business
  • Haskayne School of Business Research & Publications
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Taxpayers' rights

Thumbnail
View
Bowal_Taxpayers1999_LawNow.pdf
Download
Bowal_Taxpayers1999_LawNow.pdf (65.88Kb)
Download Record
Download to EndNote/RefMan (RIS)
Download to BibTex
Author
Bowal, Peter
Wanke, Irene
Accessioned
2010-08-13T17:22:15Z
Available
2010-08-13T17:22:15Z
Issued
1999
Subject
Human rights
Income taxes
Laws & regulations
Type
journal article
Metadata
Show full item record

Abstract
This statement of rights, reproduced here in its entirety, is available on the Revenue Canada website (http://www.rc.gc.ca). In the last few years, this Declaration has been printed on the back page of the Department's general taxpayer Guide to completing the income tax return. One cannot find any analysis and commentary on the Declaration in any books and guides published in the private sector. There are no judicial decisions that interpret and apply the Declaration. The reason for this lack of legal analysis on this Declaration is simple: it has no force of law. The Declaration of Taxpayers' Rights was never enacted into law, much less entrenched as a part of the constitution. It contains no meaningful procedural safeguards. It is a political statement of faith and intention, not a code enforceable at law. Some individual taxpayers in court and in letters will invoke the Declaration, unaware that it has no legal effect. One cannot sue for a government violation of the Declaration. Although a taxpayer may point to a right in the Declaration, it is not an enforceable right. A judge will only take light, general notice of the Declaration when deciding a tax case, because it is merely a government statement of goodwill. Over one million corporations, 158,000 importers, 110 million travellers; 21.3 million taxfilers, 2.3 million GST registrants, 1.3 million employers, 21,000 pension and related administrators, and 75,000 charities: this is what our federal income tax department dealt with alone in 1996-97 (Ensuring Fair Customs and Revenue Administration in Canada, available on website). Virtually, all Canadian taxpayers stand against the unlimited force of different levels of government to have various taxes assessed and collected throughout the year. There are few procedural rights or safeguards for them. While the fairness provisions provide some basis for discretion, there is nothing similar to the broad set of effective and generously interpreted rights for people charged with crimes. Even if the pronouncements contained in the Declaration of Taxpayers' Rights were enforceable, they are lacking in substance. They do not extend the benevolence we expect from government in all facets of daily life. None of these rights, for example, deal with the amount of tax levied. Rather, they only indirectly and partially address calculation and collection methods, so that these are fair and constrain the impulses of such a strong entity to take advantage of weaker parties.
Refereed
No
Article deposited after permission was granted by the editor of LawNow magazine, 06/28/2010.
 
Citation
Bowal, Peter, Wanke, Irene, "Taxpayers' rights", Law Now, Feb/Mar 1999, Vol. 23, Iss. 4; pg. 8.
Corporate
University of Calgary
Faculty
Haskayne School of Business
Url
http://lawnow.org/home/
Publisher
Legal Resource Centre of Alberta Ltd. (LRC)
Doi
http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/34184
Uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1880/48072
Collections
  • Haskayne School of Business Research & Publications

Browse

All of PRISMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

LoginRegister

Download Results

Statistics

Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

  • Email
  • SMS
  • 403.220.8895
  • Live Chat

Energize: The Campaign for Eyes High

Privacy Policy
Website feedback

University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
CANADA

Copyright © 2017