Easy. Just become appointed as the Governor General of Canada.

Under a specific exemption in the Income Tax Act (section 81(1)(n)) and in the Excise Tax Act, the Canadian Governor General pays no income tax or GST. Zero. Nada. Nil. Wouldn't that be nice? Adrienne Clarkson, the current Governor General, is the poster child for government waste and profligacy. And why not? After all, it's not her money.

This odd state of affairs comes about through an historical anomaly. The G-G is theoretically the Queen's representative in Canada. Therefore, the Prime Minister actually reports to her! From the parliamentary website: "The Prime Minister, as head of the Executive, is the Governor General's principal advisor". In theory, since the Queen was never subject to income tax, her representatives throughout the British Empire shouldn't be, either.

Isn't it time for this state of affairs to end? Australia, whose constitutional development has paralleled Canada's, has eliminated the tax exemption for the Governor General.

From the Australian Government website:

"The Government believes that the [Governor General's income tax] exemption is no longer appropriate for two main reasons:

* it was introduced at a time when vice-regal appointees customarily came from the United Kingdom and were treated, for tax purposes, the same 'as non-diplomatic representatives of foreign governments or organisations' and
* the Governor-General is the Queen's representative and, since 1993, the Queen has been paying income tax in the United Kingdom."

But does it really matter? All they did in Australia was bump up the G-G's salary to take the tax into account. The Australian G-G was formerly paid $135,000; after the exemption was removed, he got a raise (on the merits) plus the salary was bumped to take the tax into account - to $310,000!!. From the Australian PM's office: "The proposed salary of $310,000 takes into account the removal of the income tax exemption and an estimate of increases in the Chief Justice’s salary [as a comparison] over the next five years. "
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