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The capital gains inclusion rate increase impacts much more than the rich. I recently had a quick chat with a young friend of mine who works in the public sector and leans heavily left, so we often get into friendly but lively debates about tax and economic policy. The topic d’jour, of course, was the…

Welcome to a world of onerous tax filing requirements for U.S. tax purposes. Were you born in the United States? Was one of your parents born there? If you answered “yes” to either question, then there’s a good chance you are a U.S. citizen and have been since the moment you took your first breath.…

The vast majority of Canadian accountants only have a very basic understanding of income tax law. Practising taxation is not for the faint of heart. The Income Tax Act is, by far, the largest statute (and likely the most complex) in Canadian law. It’s fair to say many Canadians believe that most accountants understand tax.…

Tax planning shouldn’t occur just before the deadlines; it needs to happen at least monthly. At this time of year, there’s no shortage of “year-end tax-planning tips” that show up in articles, social media feeds and your email. It’s like clockwork: such articles magically appear from about Nov. 1 until Dec. 31 every year. And…

Decades and decades ago, Canada made a deliberate policy choice to use our taxation system to help encourage philanthropy. Such a choice included providing tax-exempt status for registered charities — and tax incentives for donors to make gifts to such organizations — and non-profits. During Canada’s one and only comprehensive taxation review (from 1962–1966), The…

It’s time for a comprehensive tax review, not just one to look good. Adam Smith, the Scottish economist and philosopher, laid out his thoughts on what the four basic tenets of a good taxation system are in The Wealth of Nations, his 1776 landmark writing, as follows: Equity: the taxation of persons should be proportional…

“Tax the rich” has been a popular rallying cry for many people who feel victimized, entitled or have a weak understanding of how Canada and other countries tax their residents and redistribute income.The phrase has for decades been good politics for many left-leaning politicians and political parties who use it, or something similar, to capitalize…

Canada’s top-end personal income tax rates are too high and they must come down, but there are many other tools that governments have to tax you in ways that chip away at your ability to minimize taxation. For example, eliminating indexation on personal credits and/or tax rate brackets — as some provinces have historically done…

Canada needs to take a hard look at lowering personal tax rates and ensure people keep at least half of all gains. Before 2015, Alberta had, by far, the lowest federal-provincial combined top marginal tax rate in Canada at 39 per cent. This comparative advantage contributed greatly to large amounts of investment and people going…