# Is It Illegal for the Federal Government (CANADIAN) to collect Income Tax?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123 "2000-10-31T19:29:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patricinus\_Scriblerus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Patricinus\_Scriblerus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patricinus_Scriblerus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/1 "2000-10-31T19:29:08Z")
I was reading an article posted and it actually claimed that it was illegal for the Canadian Federal government to collect Income tax. [http://www.itscanadian.com/Default.cfm?ArtID=232&CatID=120](http://www.itscanadian.com/Default.cfm?ArtID=232&CatID=120) Apparently it has to do with sections 91 & 92 of the BNA act. I quote “It all begins in 1867 in the pages of the Canadian Constitution, commonly known as the British North America (BNA) Act. The BNA was written in order to establish the legal basis for this country. All laws in Canada at all government levels must comply with BNA Act. If they don’t, then they can be deemed as unconstitutional and cannot be allowed by law. There are two specific sections of the BNA Act that deal with the delegation of authority between federal and provincial governments. Sections 91 & 92 deal with the authority for various types of taxation; who has authority to levy which taxes and various other areas of jurisdiction. The act is very specific in its direction. The right to tax income known as “direct” tax was delegated to the provinces and it was clearly indicated that any monies so raised, must be raised provincially and used for provincial purposes. The Federal Government was denied the right to levy income tax.” Is there anyone out there that can confirm / deny this. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Saint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@The\_Saint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Saint)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/2 "2000-10-31T20:08:28Z")
This sounds a lot like the claims the US Income Tax is illegal. Bottom line, the country is not run by documents, but people. In this case, the people running the country know that if they reflect the will of the people, and more recent laws, then the older ones are simply irrelevant. I’m sure someone could say the Magna Charta is still in effect, so the Earls and Barons get the only votes, but saying it and having it re-implemented are not the same. ---
**Author:** ![Patricinus\_Scriblerus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Patricinus\_Scriblerus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patricinus_Scriblerus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/3 "2000-10-31T20:15:12Z")
Apparently a Gerry Hart from Winnipeg did not pay income tax for nearly fifty years. During that time Mr. Hart has been to the Manitoba Court of Appeal 22 times but has never lost. Having always chosen to defend himself, Mr. Hart needed only two pieces of evidence - the BNA Act and the 1950 Supreme Court decision. In fact, the last time Mr. Hart went to court, the presiding judge told Revenue Canada they would be held in contempt, if they ever brought Mr. Hart to trial again ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/4 "2000-10-31T20:50:20Z")
A few years ago some guy in Alberta was taken to court by revenue canada and his defence if memory serves with something about during WWI (or something like that… forgive me I didn’t pay that much attention) as a temporary emergency action. He was interviewed on CBC radio the day before and he was really looking forward to his day in court. The judge threw out his case in about 5 minutes if memory serves. Eric ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/5 "2000-10-31T20:52:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Patricinus Scriblerus \* > \*\*Apparently a Gerry Hart from Winnipeg did not pay income tax for nearly fifty years. During that time Mr. Hart has been to the Manitoba Court of Appeal 22 times but has never lost. Having always chosen to defend himself, Mr. Hart needed only two pieces of evidence - the BNA Act and the 1950 Supreme Court decision. In fact, the last time Mr. Hart went to court, the presiding judge told Revenue Canada they would be held in contempt, if they ever brought Mr. Hart to trial again \*\* The guy won against the tax men?! :eek: This claim must have some teeth in it, then. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/6 "2000-10-31T20:57:08Z")
I meant to say: “The government introduced taxes as an temporary emergency measure during WWI” or something like that. Sorry! Eric ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-for-the-federal-government-canadian-to-collect-income-tax/39123/7 "2000-10-31T21:09:02Z")
This is nonsense, and flies in the face of the Constitution. Section 91 exactly contradicts this claim; it clearly states that the federal government has the power to engage in “the raising of money by any mode or system of taxation.” I don’t know how else you could interpret that. The quote from the website is, to put it bluntly, an outright lie. It’s no wonder they don’t actually QUOTE the Constitution; section 92 gives the provinces the power to engage in direct taxation _in order to raise their own money_. It does not exclude the federal government from any sort of taxation, as quoted above. This “income tax is illegal” nonsense is oten trotted out by conspiracy-theory nutbars who have a bone to pick with the reserve currency system; in fact, the entire site is plagiarized from a paper by Murray Gauvreau.