The Recovery of Unlawful Tax in Canada
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Recovery of Unlawful Tax in Canada: Re-evaluating the Kingstreet Cause of Action in light of Developments in the Law of Unjust Enrichment in Canada and England by Polimenis Koundouros A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws Faculty of Law University of Toronto © Copyright by Polimenis Koundouros (2017) The Recovery of Unlawful Tax in Canada: Re-evaluating the Kingstreet Cause of Action in light of Developments in the Law of Unjust Enrichment in Canada and England Polimenis Koundouros Master of Laws Faculty of Law University of Toronto November 2017 Abstract A decade after Kingstreet Investments Ltd v New Brunswick, this thesis re-evaluates the Supreme Court of Canada’s rejection of unjust enrichment in favour of a standalone public law restitutionary cause of action for the recovery of unlawful tax. I argue that the recognition of the Kingstreet cause of action threatens the coherence of the Canadian law of restitution and is inconsistent with more recent jurisprudence permitting unjust enrichment claims against the Crown in other contexts. I also argue that the Supreme Court’s doubts about whether the levying of unlawful tax constitutes an enrichment in the Crown’s hands (and a deprivation on the taxpayer’s part) are largely misplaced. Analyzing recent developments in both Canadian and English law, I contend that the law of unjust enrichment is perfectly capable of providing an adequate route to recovery while protecting the important constitutional principles at stake in unlawful tax cases. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iii Introduction .................................................................................................................................1 Part I: Putting the Problem of Unlawful Tax into Context .........................................................6 2.1 Defining the problem of unlawful taxation ..........................................................................6 2.2 Defining “restitution” and “unjust enrichment” ..................................................................7 2.3 The problem of unlawful taxation in Canada ....................................................................10 2.4 The problem of unlawful taxation in England ...................................................................12 Part II: The recognition of a cause of action on ‘constitutional grounds’ and implications for the Canadian law of restitution ............................................................................................15 3.1 The Kingstreet cause of action: positioning it within the legal taxonomy ........................16 3.2 Kingstreet’s rejection of a claim in unjust enrichment: normative perspectives ...............18 3.3 Preserving the internal coherence of the Canadian law of restitution: Kingstreet’s impact .................................................................................................................................22 3.3.1 Unjust enrichment against the Crown following Elder Advocates of Alberta Society v Alberta....................................................................................................22 Part III: The Law of Unjust Enrichment and the Recovery of Unlawful Tax...........................27 4.1 Introduction to the law of unjust enrichment in Canada ....................................................28 4.2 The need for an “enrichment” ............................................................................................29 4.3 The need for a “corresponding deprivation” ......................................................................31 4.4 Unlawful taxation and the government’s “enrichment” ....................................................36 4.4.1 The extent of the government’s enrichment: the position under English law .......38 4.4.2 Restitution of the principal amount of unlawful tax ..............................................41 4.4.3 Restitution of the time value of unlawfully levied tax ...........................................42 4.4.4 Computing the award of restitution for the time value of money ..........................44 4.5 The “enriching” nature of unlawful tax under the Canadian law of unjust enrichment ....49 iii 4.5.1 Enrichment by the principal amount of unlawful tax ............................................49 4.5.2 Enrichment by the time value of money: the position in Canada ..........................53 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................58 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................................60 iv Introduction While the idea that the government must not retain tax that was not legally due commands widespread support at a high level of abstraction, it has proven more difficult to find similar widespread consensus about the appropriate legal framework for classifying, analyzing and responding to claims by taxpayers for the recovery of unlawfully levied tax. That this subject is fraught by conceptual controversies is evidenced by the rich case law and academic commentary that has developed in both Canada and England over the past forty years as taxpayers and revenue authorities have waged battle in court – with legislatures occasionally stepping in with retroactive remedial legislation to shield governments from substantial claims when they otherwise face defeat. Unsurprisingly, a number of controversies have emerged in the literature about the nature of the problem posed by unlawful taxation and the remedies that should be available to taxpayers who seek recovery. One of the central debates concerns whether the problem of unlawful taxation should be seen as a fundamentally constitutional or public law issue that requires a concomitant public law remedy, or whether private law causes of action and remedies – such as a claim in restitution for unjust enrichment, or a claim for damages – can provide an adequate response. This debate is more than just about addressing an important conceptual question; the appropriate classification can have a profound practical impact on what a taxpayer needs to prove in order to substantiate a claim, the remedies available to a taxpayer if it succeeds and the defences and limitation periods upon which the government can rely. 1 2 In Canada, the leading judgment on the recovery of unlawful tax is the Supreme Court of Canada’s unanimous decision in Kingstreet Investments Ltd v New Brunswick.1 Kingstreet concerned a user charge on the sale of liquor imposed by regulations made by the New Brunswick government under the Liquor Control Act.2 Under s. 5 of the Fees Regulation — Liquor Control Act,3 the plaintiff paid over $1 million in user charges over the years on alcohol that it purchased for re-sale in its nightclubs. In 2004, it brought a claim in unjust enrichment against New Brunswick seeking restitution of the user charges on the basis they were an unconstitutional indirect tax and thus ultra vires the legislative competence of the province under s. 92(2) of the Constitution Act, 1867.4 The first instance judge held that the user charges were an ultra vires indirect tax but denied the plaintiff’s claim for restitution on the basis it had passed on the burden of the charges to its patrons. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part, denying recovery of the charges paid before the date on which proceedings were commenced but permitting recovery of the charges paid after that date on the basis the plaintiff had continued to pay them under protest and compulsion. On further appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada partly upheld the plaintiff’s claim for recovery but on an entirely different basis. Bastarache J, who delivered the Supreme Court’s unanimous judgment, held that unjust enrichment was an “inappropriate framework”5 and “of little use to a principled disposition of the matter.”6 Instead, he held that the plaintiff was entitled to 1 Kingstreet Investment Ltd v New Brunswick, 2007 SCC 1, [2007] 1 SCR 3 [Kingstreet SCC]. 2 Liquor Control Act, RSNB 1973, c L-10, s 200(3) [Liquor Control Act]. 3 Fees Regulation — Liquor Control Act, NB Reg 89-167 [Liquor Control Fee Regulation]. 4 Constitution Act, 1867 (UK), 30 & 31 Vict, c 3, s 92(2) reprinted in RSC 1985, App II, No 5 [Constitution Act, 1867]. 5 Kingstreet SCC, supra note 1 at para 39. 6 Kingstreet SCC, supra note 1 at para 35. 3 restitution as a matter of “constitutional right”, subject only to the 6-year limitation period prescribed by the New Brunswick Limitation Act. In so holding, he recognized restitution on “constitutional grounds” as a third branch of the Canadian law of restitution, standing alongside restitution for unjust enrichment and restitution for wrongdoing. This thesis critically evaluates Bastarache J’s rejection of unjust enrichment as a cause of action for the recovery of unlawful tax on two fronts. First, I examine the soundness of Bastarache J’s conclusion that a claim to recover unlawful tax must be treated differently because it raises fundamental constitutional issues – such as ensuring respect for the rule of law and legislative control over the executive – that would be overlooked if the claim for recovery were to proceed by way of a claim in unjust enrichment. In circumstances where unjust enrichment is recognized as a viable