Canada, a nation that has long prided itself on its devotion to free trade and free enterprise, swung abruptly toward the opposite extreme last week. Without warning, the government proposed a sharp 20% tax on the advertising revenues of Canadian editions of foreign, i.e., U.S., magazines.* In his budget speech announcing the levy. Finance Minister Walter Harris made it clear that the tax was not intended to produce revenue, but was designed to cripple or halt the U.S.-owned publications, and thus force mere Canadians to advertise in and read Canadian magazines.
Government officials admitted privately that the magazine tax was...
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