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growth is as yet unclear.
"There's a lively debate about wheth-
er these amendments will actually in-
vigorate the economy as the Republi-
cans say it will," he says. "You can see
it in the widely disparate growth pro-
jections and the extent of the academi-
cally informed disagreement that have
emerged on the issue."
Nonetheless, Seraganian predicts
that the rules of engagement and norms
that have evolved as to how Canadian
(and other foreign) capital is invested in
the US will change.
"We've been living through an extend-
ed stretch of time where, looking at the big
picture, foreign nationals could compete
in the US on a playing field that wasn't
even, because they could avoid tax easier
than US companies," he says. "They won't
With the recent US tax
law reform, rules for how
Canadian capital is invested
there may change.
By Julius Melnitzer
TAX REFORM AND
CROSS-BORDER COMMERCE
Tax
In December 2017, the United States
Senate approved the most sweeping
overhaul of the American tax system
in more than 30 years. What will the
revised tax code mean for Canadian
companies now that the reforms have
passed? This is especially relevant for
investors who have corporate interests in
both countries.
On the bright side of this issue, there
is the assuaging view that anything that
promotes economic growth in the United
States is helpful for the Canadian econo-
my as well, especially for Canadian-based
exporters who aren't part of a US multi-
national corporate group. However, Paul
Seraganian, a tax partner in Osler, Hoskin
& Harcourt LLP's New York office sug-
gests that the impact of President Don-
ald Trump's reforms on US economic
