Further Thoughts on the Capital Gains Tax

Authors

  • Melville McMillan University of Alberta

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/sppp.v17i1.79646

Abstract

The paper illustrates why Canada’s Budget 2024 tax rules do not treat the earners of capital
gains uniformly or fairly, because of inflation. The effective tax rates on real capital gains vary
substantially among taxpayers depending upon the holding period and the rate of return.
Furthermore, capital gain taxes may even create real losses. Uniform inclusion rates applied
to nominal capital gains poorly measure real capital gains and typically result in considerable
underassessment or overassessment of actual capital gains income (i.e., improvement in
purchasing power). An appropriate measure of capital gains should use a cost base adjusted
for inflation.

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Published

2024-09-24

Issue

Section

Communiqués