Budget 2018

Income tax policy, rules, problems, strategy and software. Property and consumption taxes too.
brucecohen
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Re: Budget 2018

Post by brucecohen »

AltaRed wrote: 16 Feb 2018 12:00 I believe in the theory that income should only be taxed once, which means that lottery wins are not taxed because the winning ticket was purchased with AT income, and similarly capital assets were purchased with AT income.
Sounds good but you don't have to think it out that far. I'm not a gambler so I didn't know this but it seems the Income Tax Act explicitly makes all gambling winnings tax-free except for professional gamblers. Believe it or not, there's a magazine called Canadian Gaming Lawyer and it published this 2009 article on the subject.

Years ago I had a friend who was the IRS representative in Canada. Part of his job was tracking down US citizens and green card holders living in Canada who had won big provincial lottery prizes and were not aware that while Canada doesn't tax lottery winnings, Uncle Sam does -- at 30%.

FWIW, here's a short history of why the provinces sponsor lotteries and the feds don't.
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patriot1
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Re: Budget 2018

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kcowan wrote: 16 Feb 2018 12:45 We could argue that the PR exemption unfairly favours the people who can could afford houses.
Fixed that for you. We don't know for certain how those buying at today's prices are going to make out, but do note the correlation between bond and RE prices. :wink:
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newguy
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Re: Budget 2018

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brucecohen wrote: 15 Feb 2018 21:47 govt spending as % of GDP: 20.4% in 2016.
That's just federal. In 2016 it was 51% (.82/1.6 trillion) for all levels of government. I just went to Ottawa and it always bothers me to see the size of government but I never trusted GDP. I looked up all income by the people and all spending by the government. The income is only available for 2005 and 2015 I think. All numbers are billions.

Code: Select all

                    2005     2015
Income              911      1152
Govt                535      790
pct                 59%      69%
I find it unreal that all levels of government spent 69% as much as everybody earned in all non government, market income, ie. not including govt transfers. Of course they have other revenue than taxes like resource income but I doubt it's relatively that much and it's really the people's resources in the first place.

I think it's better to talk about reducing spending instead if ways to get more taxes!

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ghariton
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Re: Budget 2018

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newguy wrote: 16 Feb 2018 21:54 I think it's better to talk about reducing spending instead if ways to get more taxes!
Ah, but spending can be targeted much more precisely than taxes. The more spending, the more vote-buying politicians can do.

Why do you think that the present government is running large deficits at a time when the economy is booming -- a time when, according to orthodox economic theory, a government should be running surpluses so as to prepare for bad times ahead?

George
The juice is worth the squeeze
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Mordko
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Re: Budget 2018

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newguy wrote: 16 Feb 2018 21:54
brucecohen wrote: 15 Feb 2018 21:47 govt spending as % of GDP: 20.4% in 2016.
That's just federal. In 2016 it was 51% (.82/1.6 trillion) for all levels of government. ...

I think it's better to talk about reducing spending instead if ways to get more taxes!

newguy
Exactly. We have massive government - and yet we are still going further into debt at the time when the economy is doing OK. Something tells me there is a problem and its not in paying too little tax.
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AltaRed
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Re: Budget 2018

Post by AltaRed »

Voters get who they elect. Seems most don't care if they mortgage their children's future. So sad....
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max88
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Re: Budget 2018

Post by max88 »

ghariton wrote: 16 Feb 2018 23:52 Ah, but spending can be targeted much more precisely than taxes. The more spending, the more vote-buying politicians can do.
AltaRed wrote: 17 Feb 2018 11:49 Voters get who they elect. Seems most don't care if they mortgage their children's future. So sad....
Speaking of vote-buying, this is natural selection, survival of fittest.
Fittest =/= the strongest
Fittest == the most suitable

Politicians who promise to cut $9 in benefits are laughed out of town, before they have a chance to complete their sentence with $10 reduction in taxes.

Politicians who promise to give $9 in benefits are rushed into power, without a chance to make the disclaimer of $10 increase in taxes.
I am cautiously optimistic. When it goes up, I claim I have been optimistic; when it goes down, I claim I have been cautious.
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Re: Budget 2018

Post by tdiddy »

Koogie wrote: 16 Feb 2018 09:18
izzy wrote: 15 Feb 2018 23:28 What is behind the "kick me"mentality that seems to prevail on this forum? We have a medicare system that is falling apart and our infrastructure badly needs up grading .It is NOT because of lack of funding,in too many cases its due to overspending on administration rather than on what is needed and swelling government coffers is not going to fix that since all too often it is government itself that is the source of the problem!
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/po ... e38018829/

Are the NDP shrinking back into irrelevancy or has Canada taken a major socialist tilt? Never heard of anyone talking about increases taxes with such bravado. Free dental care? Guarenteed sick leaves for everyone? Yikes. They could easily hold the balance of power in next election which makes me very nervous
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AltaRed
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Re: Budget 2018

Post by AltaRed »

Irrelevancy but the major risk is indeed balance of power come late 2019.
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