THE JAMES HAUSMAN TAX LAW & POLICY WORKSHOP
presents
Michael Smart
University of Toronto
Department of Economics
Why the Dividend Tax Credit?
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
12:30 - 1:45
Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
I discuss the tax treatment of personal dividend income in Canada. Incorporating the changing parameters of the dividend gross-up-and-credit system since 1972, including provincial credits, I estimate the effective tax rate on eligible and ordinary dividend income of taxable investors, and compare it to that applying to other income sources. I present new estimates of the associated federal and provincial tax expenditures, which are large. Finally, I discuss the policy rationale for the existing system and its effects on corporate investment, tax avoidance, and the portfolios of Canadians.
Michael Smart is Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto. He is a specialist in the economic analysis of tax policy. His academic research – on taxation, fiscal federalism, and the political economy of government policy – has appeared in leading academic journals in economics. He has previously served as an editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics, and International Tax and Public Finance. He is affiliated with the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation, the Center for Economic Studies in Munich, and the School of Public Policy in Calgary. He has also held positions visiting the London School of Economics and the University of Munich, and as special adviser at the federal Department of Finance in Canada.
Professor Smart received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1995, and was also educated at McGill University and the University of British Columbia.
For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.
