The Tax
Through the early 1880s, some 15,000 labourers were brought from China to do construction work on the Canadian Pacific Railway, though they were only paid a third or a half less than their coworkers. This immigration into British Columbia (BC) was large enough— some 3,000 Chinese, when the 1871 census counted only 33,586 in the province— to arouse concern. The provincial legislature passed a strict law to virtually prevent Chinese immigration in 1878. However, this was immediately struck down by the courts as ultra vires the provincial legislative assembly, as it impinged upon federal jurisdiction over immigration into Canada.
As a Dominion of the British Empire, Canada could only try to discourage, not completely eliminate, Chinese immigration at its borders. To do so, the federal parliament passed in 1885 the Chinese Immigration Act, which stipulated that all Chinese entering Canada must first pay a $50 fee, later referred to as a head tax. This was amended in 1887, 1892, and 1900, with the fee increasing to its maximum of $500 in 1903. Not all Chinese arrivals had to pay the head tax, however; some were presumed to return to China after "sojourning" to Canada because of their transitory occupation or background (students, teachers, missionaries, merchants, members of the diplomatic corps) and were therefore exempt from paying this fee.
Not only did the Crown in Right of Canada collect about $23 million ($300 million in 2012 dollars) in face value from about 81,000 head tax payers, but the tax system also had the effect of constraining Chinese immigration; it discouraged Chinese women and children from joining their men, so the Chinese community in Canada became a "bachelor society". This, though, still did not meet the goal, articulated by contemporary politicians and labour leaders, of exclusion of Chinese immigration altogether. That was achieved through the same law that ended the head tax: the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which stopped Chinese immigration entirely, albeit with certain exemptions for business owners and others. It is sometimes referred to by opponents as the Chinese Exclusion Act, a term also used for its American counterpart.
Read more about this topic: Head Tax (Canada)
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