The Chinese Head Tax was a fixed fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and it was meant to discourage Chinese people from entering Canada after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The tax was abolished by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which outright prevented all Chinese immigration except for that of business people, clergy, educators, students, and some others. Tax Through the mid- to late 19th century, some 17,000 were brought from China to do construction work on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), though they were only paid a third or a half less than their co-workers (about CA$1/day). Once the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, the demand for cheap labour was non-existent, so the provincial legislature of British Columbia passed a strict law to virtually prevent Chinese immigration in 1885. However, this was immediately struck down by the courts as ultra vires ('beyond the powers of') the provincial legislative assembly, as it impinged upon federal jurisdiction over immigration into Canada. A similar attempt was made a year prior and another one was made in 1878 to tax every Chinese over the age of 12 to be taxed $10 (approximately $283 as of 2022) every three months. Responding to the anti-immigration sentiment in British Columbia, the Canadian government of John A. Macdonald introduced the Chinese Immigration Act, receiving Royal Assent and becoming law in 1885. Under its regulations, the law stipulated that all Chinese people entering Canada must first pay a fee, later referred to as a head tax. This was amended in 1887, 1892, and 1900, with the fee increasing to in 1900 and later to its maximum of in 1903, representing a two-year salary of an immigrant worker at that time. However, not all Chinese arrivals had to pay the head tax; those who were better off financially and presumed to return to China based on the apparent, transitory nature of their occupation or background were exempt from the penalty. These included arrivals identifying themselves as: students, teachers, missionaries, merchants, or members of the diplomatic corps. The Government of Canada collected about CA$23 million ($ in dollars) in face value from about 81,000 head tax payers. The head tax did discourage Chinese women and children from joining their men, but it failed to meet its goal,