Today marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the federal income tax. 

Originally enacted as a temporary tax to fund World War 1, Canadians are still paying a war tax for a war that ended 99 years ago.  What started as an 11-page law with a four percent tax rate has ballooned into today’s 3,300-page behemoth says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Aaron Wudwick. 

Over the past 100 years, Canadians have paid a cumulative $4.9 trillion in federal income taxes.  To put this into context this amount in $100-dollar bills laid end-to-end would circle the earth at the equator 186 times.