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9 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,F ebruary 28,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca Fifty years of cutting and pasting has left the Ca- nadian business taxation system uncompetitive, cumbersome and ineffi- cient. Now more than ever a Royal Commission on taxa- tion is required to align the national tax system with the economy of today, while preparing for the economy of the future. Much has changed since the Carter Royal Commis- sion created the basis of our tax system in the 1960s. New technologies, global supply chains and interna- tional competition have disrupted entire indus- tries. Governments world- wide are competing to har- ness innovation by trying to understand how new de- velopments like artificial intelligence and the shar- ing economy will reshape how we live and work. The pace of change in Canada's economy re- quires investments in cap- ital and skills, as well as the organizational agility to compete. However, mem- bers of the Canadian busi- ness sector believe that the tax system does not reflect these fundamental chang- es. We are proud that the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and its CEO Perrin Beatty are leading the charge on this impor- tant file. It is clear that Canada's outdated tax system has re- al costs - both in terms of money and time - for Cana- dian business. The system also has real implications for strategic, tactical and operational decisions of businesses of all sizes. The changing global tax environment not only pro- vides an excellent opportu- nity for Canada to re-exam- ine its own tax system, but in fact, demands that we do so. If we look at G7 and Or- ganisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop- ment countries, there is a prolonged trend toward greater tax competitive- ness. The OECD has en- couraged Canada to review our domestic tax system to ensure that it remains effi- cient - raising sufficient revenues to fund public spending without impos- ing excessive costs on the economy. Similarly, the Interna- tional Monetary Fund has suggested that Canada conduct a careful and inde- pendent review of the over- all Canadian tax system, weighing the pros and cons of incremental changes versus more radical ap- proaches to assess their revenue implications and potential implications on other countries. A new Royal Commis- sion's terms of reference should be guided by the principles of tax competi- tiveness, simplicity, fair- ness and neutrality. The in- quiry should explore a wide range of issues, in- cluding broadening the tax base to consider the most effective policy solutions, adjusting the tax mix to better promote business in- vestments and economic growth, legislating a Tax- payer Charter of Rights to hold the Canada Revenue Agency accountable, and further simplifying the tax filing process with digital solutions. If Canada is serious about enhancing its compet- itiveness, we need to focus on how governments can use tax policy to harness new global business models. It is crucial we recognize a modernized tax system can be a key driver of Canada's business innovation and economic growth. Ian McLean is president and CEO of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Cham- ber of Commerce. THE CANADIAN BUSINESS TAX SYSTEM REQUIRES A SERIOUS REVIEW OPINION CANADA'S OUTDATED TAX SYSTEM HAS REAL COSTS - BOTH TIME AND MONEY - FOR BUSINESS, IAN MCLEAN SAYS IAN MCLEAN Column We are a family of gam- ers, and recently picked up the new Sony PlaySta- tion Classic console fea- turing retro games like Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, and Battle Arena Tosh- inden. My wife and I have al- ways been loyal to Nin- tendo, and have owned each of the company's consoles going back to the '80s, even when Micro- soft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation began to dominate the market. I can still vividly see us in my rec room spending countless hours with friends playing memora- ble games like F-Zero, Lemmings, Top Gear, Su- per Smash TV and Zom- bies Ate My Neighbours. But I've always been curious about popular PlayStation games that I've heard so much about, like Rayman, Tom Clan- cy's Rainbow Six and Grand Theft Auto. And the new Sony PlayStation mini-console featuring 20 classic games has not disap- pointed. We've been hav- ing a blast discovering games like Destruction Derby, Final Fantasy VII, and one of the most fun and immersive racing games we've ever played, R4 Ridge Race Type 4. It also includes one of the strangest and most captivating games we've every played, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, with its dreamy graphics and compelling storyline. Our daughters espe- cially love Abe and the weird cast of characters, oddities and strange in- habitants, with its haunt- ingly beautiful cinemat- ics and eerie atmosphere. Along with the Sony PlayStation Classic, we also own Nintendo's NES Classic console, which in- cludes Donkey Kong, Pac- Man, and The Legend of Zelda. Then there's Ninten- do's SNES Classic Edition console that was released in 2017, featuring 21 built- in games like Super Ma- rio Kart, Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Star Fox, and we were excited to discov- er those games all over again. At video game stores in Waterloo like Good Time Games and Retro Replay, I also enjoy revisiting old- er systems like Leisure Vision, TurboGrafx-16, Sega Dreamcast, and my very first console, the old Atari 2600 system. That classic system of the late '70s featured games likes Freeway, River Raid and one of my all time favou- rites, Jungle Hunt - one of the first video games to use parallax scrolling to create an illusion of three-dimensional depth. Then there's the clas- sic systems some of my friends had, like Intellivi- sion, ColecoVision and Vectrex, which came with the built-in game MineS- torm. They are almost like artifacts in a 20th century pop-culture museum, and are still very fun to play, even though the graphics and gameplay have changed drastically over the years. Video games have now been around long enough that middle-aged adults can reminisce nostalgi- cally about the games of their childhood, while young people can eagerly await graphically stun- ning, immersive releases on next-generation con- soles that make our old Nintendo look like an abacus. I'm fascinated by the entire gaming phenome- non - now bigger than Hollywood movies - and how retro consoles can transcend generations in gaming families like mine. Marshall Ward is a freelance writer and art- ist. Email is welcome at marshall_ward@hot- mail.com. THE RISE OF RETRO GAMING CLASSIC VIDEO GAME CONSOLES CAN TRANSCEND GENERATIONS, SAYS MARSHALL WARD MARSHALL WARD Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA SUBMIT YOUR MARCH BREAK EVENTS AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA