Issue of the separate system of Ontario

The paper should address the issue of a separate tax system for Ontario.  As you have learned, Ontario assesses tax by having taxpayers fill out a separate form calculating the tax.  In the past, Ontario simply determined its tax by taking a straight percentage of the federal tax, a system still used by some provinces (this approach is sometimes called a tax-on-tax or TOT system).  A number of years ago (about 20), Ontario went to a separate calculation, but still uses the federal definition of taxable income (this is called a tax-on-income or TOI system).  In contrast, Quebec has taxpayers fill out an entirely separate tax return, defining taxable income differently than the federal government does (the Quebec system has been in effect far longer than Ontarios).  Some people think that Ontario should follow Quebecs lead, and move to a separate tax return; other people believe that Ontario has already gone too far, and that the complications in doing separate calculations impose a needless cost on taxpayers.

Your paper should begin by detailing some of the ways in which Ontarios calculation of tax liability differs from that used by the federal government.  Look at three different taxpayers in three different income categories: a low-income taxpayer with income of $30,000; a middle-income taxpayer with income of $80,000; and a high-income taxpayer with income of $300,000.  Keep the calculations relatively simple by ignoring all deductions and credits except the basic personal amount.  That is, ignore any C.P.P. or E.I. contributions and all Ontario property and sales tax credits, as well as the Ontario tax reduction.  Compute the average and marginal tax rates for each taxpayer first for the federal system alone, and then for the provincial system alone.  In practical terms, does it matter very much (that is, would the net results for the three taxpayers be much different if Ontario simply used a TOT system rather than a TOI system)?  Is the Ontario system more or less progressive than the federal system (note that it is quite hard to compare progressivity between tax systems, so you may only be able to make some general statements here)?  In what other ways does the Ontario system differ from the federal system?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a separate tax calculation (as opposed to a TOT system)?

You should then go back and try to determine why Ontario made this change.  This will be hard (I did not turn up much in a casual search), so it is OK to speculate on why this happened.  Do you think it was a good idea or a bad idea?  Explain your reasoning.

Finally, why does Quebec go even further than Ontario in breaking its system away from the federal system?  Should Ontario move closer to the Quebec model (explain why or why not)?  Interestingly, in the area of consumption taxes, Quebec and Ontario for a long time went in opposite directions.  That is, Quebec harmonized its provincial sales tax with the G.S.T. very early on, while Ontario had a separately defined sales tax base until very recently.  Comment on this apparent paradox that is, on the fact that Quebec has chosen to have a less harmonized income tax, but was very quick to adopt a more harmonized sales tax.

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