The exact size of the excess burden varies from province to prov- ince depending on the existing extent of taxation, how high the marginal tax fraserinstitute.org vi The History and Development of Canada’s Personal Income Tax edited by William Watson and Jason Clemens. [...] Though successive finance ministers have embraced the idea of broadening the income tax base and lowering tax rates, Lammam and Veldhuis maintain “there has been almost no progress in making the federal personal income tax system more competi- tive and part of a pro-growth agenda.” In fact, the 2016 federal budget moved in the opposite direction by introducing a new top tax bracket with a four- po [...] One thing that was explicitly temporary about the tax was where it was introduced: in the ground-floor hall of what is now the Canadian Museum of Nature, to which Parliament had moved in February 1916, the afternoon after a nighttime fire originating in the reading room had destroyed most of the Centre Block, killing seven people. [...] Many in the Commons and the country felt that seizing people’s actual persons to serve fraserinstitute.org Rate of income tax (%) 8 The History and Development of Canada’s Personal Income Tax edited by William Watson and Jason Clemens. [...] In the first years of Confederation, it had been felt that taxing incomes would detract from Canada’s competitive position as one of the lowest taxed countries in the world.18 Indeed, it’s worth noting that Canada’s federal personal income tax only came into being once the United States had brought in its own income tax in 1913.19 This essay highlights some of the major changes to the federal pers