Dec. 16, 2019
Professor cited in recent Supreme Court decision
The case involved British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), a Crown corporation owned by the British Columbia government. BCI managed and invested pension and other money for several public-sector organizations. The federal government collected GST under the Excise Tax Act. BCI didn鈥檛 charge direct fees for some of its investment services. Instead, it took some of the profits from those investments to cover the costs of its services. It didn鈥檛 charge GST.
BCI asked a British Columbia court to legally declare that it didn鈥檛 have to pay federal taxes. The BC court decided the federal government couldn鈥檛 force BCI to pay under the Excise Tax Act. But the court also said that BCI still had to pay because of BC鈥檚 agreements with the federal government. The Court of Appeal agreed.
Nigel's article 鈥淐o鈥憃perative Federalism: Third Parties and Intergovernmental Agreements and Arrangements in Canada and Australia鈥 (1991), 29 Alta. L. Rev. 792, was cited in the decision by the Supreme Court.