Families and businesses pay the price when new tax rules are proposed, but the details are delayed

financialpost.com:

A core principle of taxation is that taxpayers have the right to pay no more — and no less — than what is required by law.

But what happens if the government proposes a new taxation law to be effective immediately (or at a later date) and the proposed law itself is in flux or, worse, hasn’t even been fully drafted? Or if flawed draft legislation has been released and requires significant changes? In such situations, how are Canadians supposed to plan their financial affairs when the rules they are expected to follow are unclear or incomplete?

In order to provide taxpayers with the ability to effectively plan their affairs, it has been common and tradition for decades that most new tax proposals are accompanied by detailed draft legislation when first announced. In most cases, the draft legislation is well crafted, but might need some tinkering to fix unintended consequences, correct errors or make other adjustments. By doing this, the government provides taxpayers with a detailed roadmap to enable them to proactively plan their affairs.

Lately, however, it has become common for many new tax proposals announced in the annual budget or the fall economic statement to not be accompanied by draft legislation. The announcement simply states that draft legislation will be released later.

For example, the capital gains inclusion rate increase was first proposed in the April 16, 2024, federal budget to be effective roughly 10 weeks later on June 25. But the announcement did not contain any draft legislation, so taxpayers were unable to effectively plan their affairs.

The first batch of draft legislation was released on June 10, just two weeks before the implementation date. The material was imperfect despite the best efforts of