Newsletter

  One Comment About Taxation – The Importance of Proper Estate Planning   There are numerous estimates predicting that within the next 10-20 years, the transfer of wealth from Baby Boomers to the next generation – mainly to Millennials or Generation X – will be in the range of $1 -$2 trillion in Canada.  The…

  One Comment About Taxation – Should Canada Follow the New U.S. Law That Exempts a Portion of “Tips” Income From Taxation?   Early on in my career, I started going out for lunches and dinners with key contacts and clients.  Of course, as I learned earlier in my life, providing gratuity (“tips”) for good service was customary.  I…

  One Comment About Taxation – How Does Canada’s Taxation System on Death Compare to Other Regimes Around the World?  Does it Need a Re-Think?   In 1789, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, famously wrote in a letter, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death…

  One Comment About Taxation – Canada’s Personal Tax Rates Are Too High and Are Discriminatory to Families   Last week, Jamie Golombek wrote a great article in the Financial Post about the progressivity of our personal income tax.  In short, the article discussed the fact that many provinces in Canada have combined federal – provincial personal income tax rates at the highest…

  One Comment About Taxation – The Canada Revenue Agency Needs to Reduce Its Bloat and Work to Restore Public Trust   Over the years, the number of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) audits on taxpayers has increased.  There’s nothing wrong with that, the CRA has an important job to do to administer our country’s complex…

  One Comment About Taxation – The Departure of Successful Canadians is Real….and Canada Needs to Do Something About It   More and more successful Canadians are continuing to leave Canada.  Many tax practitioners have been aware of this phenomenon for years.  For example, in the first 23 years of my career, I worked on approximately a…

  One Comment About Taxation – So How Is All of Canada’s Eye Watering Spending Going to Be Paid For?  New Taxes?   The amount of federal spending that PM Carney has committed to last month is, frankly, eye watering.  The boosts to our country’s defense budget – $9 billion – and NATO spending pledges – a…

  One Comment About Taxation – The Ongoing Saga of NHL Hockey Player John Tavares’s Tax Battle With the CRA Regarding the Tax Treatment of Signing Bonuses   By now, many know about the taxation issues that NHL star hockey player John Tavares and others (like retired future Hall of Famer Patrick Marleau and several NBA players) have faced from…

  One Comment About Taxation – The Proliferation of Artificial Intelligence Is An Opportunity to Think Big About Our Country’s Tax System   In November 2022, I was having dinner with three of my best friends when one of them pulled out his phone to show us the just released ChatGPT, the new large language model…

  One Comment About Taxation – What Does a 21st Century Tax Reform Look Like For Canada?   Over the years, many tax practitioners, including me, have called for tax reform. But when such rallying cries fall on the ears of the average Canadian, I’ve grown to realize that it doesn’t really resonate. It should.   For…