Fighting Back: Tax Evasion and the Great Canadian Tax Revolt

Greg Ioannou was the past president of the Freelance Editors' Association of Canada and a partner in The Editorial Centre, Toronto.

This book is about tax evasion (the illegal deception of government tax collectors) rather than tax avoidance (the legal sheltering of income so that it will not be taxed).

The book is oddly schizophrenic: while the title suggests a virtual celebration of tax avoiders as modern-day Robin Hoods and the writers claim that tax evasion is “akin to the Canadian national sport,” the book is filled with warnings that evasion is illegal and readers should not do it. The tension is never really resolved; the warnings clash jarringly with the admiring tone in which scams are discussed and with the attitude that the government’s goal is “to wrench that last sou out of your pocket.”

The style is very readable and anecdotal, but throughout there is evidence of quick writing, poor editing, and too little thought given to organization. The book is full of anecdotes told more than once and odd little digressions on such topics as the Laffer Curve. Some of the information is now outdated, particularly in the final section on Revenue Canada’s “new, aggressive” enforcement procedures, which have been revised drastically by the Conservative government since the last federal election.