Taxing Choices
The Intersection of Class, Gender, Parenthood, and the Law
- Publisher
- UBC Press
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2007
- Category
- Gender & the Law, Legal History, Taxation, Gender Studies
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780774850346
- Publish Date
- Oct 2007
- List Price
- $32.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780774809573
- Publish Date
- Jan 2003
- List Price
- $34.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780774809566
- Publish Date
- Aug 2002
- List Price
- $95.00
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
In the early 1990s, lawyer Beth Symes brought an equality challenge against the Canadian Income Tax Act, arguing that her childcare costs were a business expense. The case ignited public controversy. Was Symes disadvantaged on the basis of gender, or unfairly privileged on the basis of class? This book seeks answers to those questions through close attention to the Symes case, where class and gender interests clashed over the tax treatment of childcare. It looks at the history of legislative and litigative struggles, the dynamics of courtroom discourse, and the influence of broad social debates about children and the public/private divide. It reveals how frequently the rhetoric of choice, responsibility, and selfishness is invoked in response to women's attempts to place issues of childcare on the public agenda.
About the author
Rebecca Johnson is a professor of law and the associate director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit in the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria.
Awards
- Winner, Harold Adams Innis Prize, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Science