Mine Taxation (b9e31463-19bf-4ab5-a5da-6846de0bbc5a)

FOR some reason or other, Mine Taxation has never been a popular subject for discussion in meetings of this kind, and it has never received the study and consideration its importance demanded. By way of explanation, two reasons may be suggested. In the first place, the computation, adjustment, and final payment of taxes, have been looked upon in most cases as a Head Office chore. Secondly, since taxes represent an uncontrollable cost item, they have been treated as an added rather than an inclusive factor in calculating unit costs. Perhaps because I am half Irish, and therefore resent taxation of all kinds, perhaps because I am half Scotch, and am therefore concerned with the results, I have always taken a keen interest in this subject. Moreover, by some peculiar set of circumstances, I have been a participating party in many, perhaps I can say most, of the discussions on this subject that have taken place between the Governments and the representatives of this industry during the past thirty years. Looking backward, certain very definite impressions remain. Political considerations have never had any part in these discussions. Views have been exchanged upon the frankest possible basis, and, when we disagreed on some particular detail, we agreed to disagree, and followed through in harmony and? good faith. We, as an industry, have refrained from importuning and fault finding in ways that might be considered as petty or selfish, and it is only upon occasions such as this, where conditions necessitate action, that we lay our troubles before the powers that be. The Ontario Mining Tax Act was drafted by men who were earnest and practical as to purpose, and that Act has stood the test of time. It is, in. truth, a mode! Act, for it has been copied in its general clauses by both Quebec and the Dominion of Canada. We all know that, when a machine is running smoothly, we should leave it alone. The same is true of a well designed, easily applicable, taxation measure, and our present difficulty with respect to this Act arises out of an amendment made in 1916. In that year, you will remember, the Dominion imposed a wartime Income Tax Act. It was described as a wartime necessity and it was intimated t:1 at with the end of hostilities its application would be restricted and finally cancelled. The rate of taxation was modest, and when the Ontario Government was asked that the Dominion Income Tax be allowed as a deductible item, they readily acquiesced. This was looked upon as a temporary arrangement.