A couple of years back the government, in all its great wisdom, decided to greatly tighten up the rules governing the amount of money your corporation could make at the lower tax rate. If you were making money as a doc, incorporated, later in career so retirement investments were making a lot per year your tax rate went as high as 75% if you dared to work a lot and make a lot of money. I know numerous docs who said f-it, I just won't bother working as much.
Docs who work part time were not affected. It was the hard-working, productive ones who were. When 75% of your income disappears, at some point people say "uncle" and just give up. We are punishing hard work and productivity.
Which should be as plain a consequence as the nose on your face.... but not with these buffoons.
Yet we are so handicapped as a profession when it comes to discussing this in the public square.... the public's perception of physicians is not only that we are extremely well paid, but that we are fully vested with benefits.... and of course they don't consider the 10-15 years of training physicians undertake to get to practice, with all the opportunity cost and risk that entails.
So hard to find a way to argue this in public.... I've tried, and the sentiment in response generally is about ten to one, people slamming doctors for complaining about money as they drive their Ferraris to their million summer cottages in Muskoka.
I've had an attitude correction over the last few years. Back in the day I was--not happy exactly--but willing to pay taxes believing it was my duty as a citizen of the country to do my bit to keep it running. But I've been thoroughly cured of that and my new attitude is dripping with resentment at the smirking morons who have their hands in our wallets and bank accounts and throw what they steal at wars and raises for themselves and drugs that have created a health crisis like we haven't seen before. Collective resistance is needed. Unfortunately, I actually know some people (who I thought were intelligent) who turn a blind eye to the corruption. Unbelievable.
Bang on. I'm with you: happy to pay taxes to support roads, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, etc.... but what we have instead increasingly is a bonfire of waste using the funds you and I have worked hard for. It's abominable.
Okay, I am using the Newhart reference to be silly.
As it happens, I was fed up with the Pretender in Chief before he was first elected to the top job. I simply ........ oh, why even bother?
I am a retired accountant and I met so, so, so many folks during my working years who were proud to pay "their share" of taxes, and that truly included a lot of wealthy folks who knew that it was important to give back. As I approached retirement a lot of those same folks wanted to know where all their taxes went given the number of - it was claimed - those who were in need but whom the government didn't help.
I am now retired and I never earned the sort of money that the top (or even the couple of lower tiers) tier earned but I did earn enough that I could retire. I live off my savings (I hope I don't outlive them!) and I have no government or corporate pension. I have known and continue to know that your comment about the top tier of folks pay in taxes so outpaces what others pay is absolutely correct.
I have heard for many years that someone, somebody, somewhere must "pay their fair share" but the speaker never, but never, defines who that somebody is - it is never HIM or HER, of course! - but is always SOMEONE ELSE. Further, they don't ever, not ever, define precisely what constitutes that "fair share" so, ultimately, it is only rhetoric to take from one group, launder it like the mob, through the government and pay a small amount to some other group. Of course, the lion's share of the amount so taken is retained by the government to pay salaries, etc., etc.
I am 73 and am therefore lucky that I am approaching death where I won't be subject to hearing all the bleating of those who keep demanding "fairness" without defining it (other than SOMEONE ELSE is stopping THEM, blah, blah, blah). I am unlucky in that my children and grandchildren will have to live in this wretched country; if they were smarter they would simply pull up stakes and leave.
Typical Trudeau math: "only 40,000 people will be affected!" - which is itself BS, but consider also that more than 300,000 corps are caught up in this. Does he think that the individuals behind corporations aren't "people"? The man is so clueless, so utterly incompetent.
Peter McCaffrey at the Alberta Institute this morning"
"The federal budget, released on Tuesday, confirmed many economists' and commentators’ grim predictions. It unveiled a staggering $40 billion deficit, dwarfed only by an even more alarming $52.9 billion in spending over and above previous plans.
The budget's most controversial measure, however, was a significant tax hike - an increase in the capital gains tax inclusion rate from 50% to 66.6% on gains exceeding $250,000. The government described this as a minor adjustment affecting less than 1% of the wealthiest Canadians.
Many on social media seem to have bought this tired old “tax the rich” narrative yet again. But, this narrative is nothing more than government spin and - as always - this policy will affect everyone, not just those dastardly one percenters.
How, you ask?
Well, the "less than 1% of Canadians" figure is incredibly misleading because it only accounts for people who pay capital gains tax directly on their own personal income tax bills. In reality, a much larger portion of Canadians will pay this tax directly, and almost every single Canadian will pay it indirectly.
First, it’s important to realize that the "less than 1% of Canadians" paying this tax are not the same people each year. It fails to consider Canadians who might sell a major asset like a family cottage, a small business, or a substantial investment and then face this heightened tax rate in that particular year. So, while it’s true that not many people will pay this tax every year, many will pay it once or twice, or more, throughout their lives.
That’s a lot more than less than 1% of Canadians already, from just that one omission.
Second, directly paying a capital gains tax when you file your personal taxes isn't the only way you can pay capital gains taxes. And, worse, the $250,000 exemption applies only to individuals, not to businesses. If you're a small- to medium-sized business owner, your business could end up paying this higher tax most or even every year.
So, now almost every Canadian who runs a business is paying this new higher tax - and they weren’t included in the 1% calculation either.
Third, let’s not forget that this new tax rate doesn’t just apply to personal investment accounts, but also to any investments held within a business. So, even if your business isn’t active anymore, and you just have some savings left in a corporation, well, you’re paying, too.
Who knows what percentage of Canadians we’re up to now but, it sure isn’t 1% anymore, is it?
And we’re not done there, either. The ramifications extend even further, as anyone with a TFSA, or an RRSP, or even just a pension from your employer, is going to indirectly pay this tax too
But TFSAs and RRSPs are exempt from tax, I hear you say.
Sure, it’s true that TFSAs and RRSPs shelter you from any direct capital gains taxes that you would have personally had to pay. But, the businesses whose shares you own in those accounts still have to pay the tax, and this capital gains tax increase is effectively an increase in the business tax rate that every business has to pay.
And as these businesses face higher tax obligations, their profitability diminishes. This, in turn, leads to lower dividends for shareholders and a decrease in share value, affecting the overall value of individual investment portfolios.
Suddenly, anyone with an investment account is paying this new higher tax.
And it gets worse - this hit to share values will also apply to many of the investments held by the Canada Pension Plan, too. Again, yes, the CPP itself is exempt from taxes - but the Canadian businesses it invests in aren’t, and those investments will certainly decline in value relative to where they could have been.
So, now, almost literally every single Canadian is being affected by this tax hike, and the ridiculousness of claiming a tax hike only affects the 1% to begin with is revealed. Despite the government’s claims that such fiscal measures only affect a wealthy few, in reality, they influence the broader economic environment, affecting all levels of society and the overall health of our economy."
In my experience, everyone who says "the rich should pay their fair share" define "rich" as "anyone who has more money than I do". A distant cousin of mine owns a huge rural property, 2 cars, a boat, has no debt, and still feels that "the rich need to pay their fair share". They did not like me pointing out their net assets...
Also a retired accountant, who spent a number of years doing NTR work for Lawyers and Drs with PCs. and plenty of small business NTRs, Reviews and audits where necessary. I totally agree with you. I joined social media in 2016 when this government basically called them all tax cheats! I'd really hate to see what would happen to this country if "the wealthy" got up and left. We've already lost the likes of Murray Edwards and The Bronfmans due to tax policies, how many more will leave?
Pat, what many people don't realize is just how mobile many of these folks really are. What they further don't realize is that many of the "wealthy" class of folks are folks who work for international companies who are serving a rotation in Canada. All it will take is for many of these international folks to start refusing to come to Canada because of taxes and many of these companies will look strongly at leaving.
And, yes, we have many examples of folks who have already left and it could well become a much greater number.
Exactly, especially Doctors, very mobile, very in demand! I think we already see this lack of enthusiasm for Canada in professional sports, the best of the best is most sports do not choose Canadian teams to ply their craft, they hone their skills when they are young on Canadian teams and go south as free agents.
A Dr or Lawyer with a PC cannot sell their corporation at the end of their career, it is just wound up. The small business plumber, or electrical can sell his for a capital gain or sell assets etc. In the future businesses will find a way to limit capital gains using wealth preservation strategies. You can be sure the tax accountants and lawyers are already working on this. That is why they make the big bucks!
You know, I always wonder about these people that complain about Doctor salaries. I pay my hairdresser more than my family Dr for 15 minutes of her time. Surely a person's health is worth more than the $40 being paid by AHS for a Doctor visit.
Yes, Dr. Les what middle class? We are well on our way to the WEF's goals for us useless eaters. Right, we will own nothing and be happy, right? Wrong, we are already a sad, dejected, hostile country and as divided as we could ever be. Trudope just doesn't want anyone to have anything extra, other than the handouts they want to pass out to keep citizens ever more reliant on this miserable government. Angry, you bet I am! What with all the money they are stealing from us, you can rest assured it is going to all the 'free' social programs and foreign aid and, and, and.......
A couple of years back the government, in all its great wisdom, decided to greatly tighten up the rules governing the amount of money your corporation could make at the lower tax rate. If you were making money as a doc, incorporated, later in career so retirement investments were making a lot per year your tax rate went as high as 75% if you dared to work a lot and make a lot of money. I know numerous docs who said f-it, I just won't bother working as much.
Docs who work part time were not affected. It was the hard-working, productive ones who were. When 75% of your income disappears, at some point people say "uncle" and just give up. We are punishing hard work and productivity.
Which should be as plain a consequence as the nose on your face.... but not with these buffoons.
Yet we are so handicapped as a profession when it comes to discussing this in the public square.... the public's perception of physicians is not only that we are extremely well paid, but that we are fully vested with benefits.... and of course they don't consider the 10-15 years of training physicians undertake to get to practice, with all the opportunity cost and risk that entails.
So hard to find a way to argue this in public.... I've tried, and the sentiment in response generally is about ten to one, people slamming doctors for complaining about money as they drive their Ferraris to their million summer cottages in Muskoka.
I've had an attitude correction over the last few years. Back in the day I was--not happy exactly--but willing to pay taxes believing it was my duty as a citizen of the country to do my bit to keep it running. But I've been thoroughly cured of that and my new attitude is dripping with resentment at the smirking morons who have their hands in our wallets and bank accounts and throw what they steal at wars and raises for themselves and drugs that have created a health crisis like we haven't seen before. Collective resistance is needed. Unfortunately, I actually know some people (who I thought were intelligent) who turn a blind eye to the corruption. Unbelievable.
Bang on. I'm with you: happy to pay taxes to support roads, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, etc.... but what we have instead increasingly is a bonfire of waste using the funds you and I have worked hard for. It's abominable.
Ah, tell us what you really think!
Okay, I am using the Newhart reference to be silly.
As it happens, I was fed up with the Pretender in Chief before he was first elected to the top job. I simply ........ oh, why even bother?
I am a retired accountant and I met so, so, so many folks during my working years who were proud to pay "their share" of taxes, and that truly included a lot of wealthy folks who knew that it was important to give back. As I approached retirement a lot of those same folks wanted to know where all their taxes went given the number of - it was claimed - those who were in need but whom the government didn't help.
I am now retired and I never earned the sort of money that the top (or even the couple of lower tiers) tier earned but I did earn enough that I could retire. I live off my savings (I hope I don't outlive them!) and I have no government or corporate pension. I have known and continue to know that your comment about the top tier of folks pay in taxes so outpaces what others pay is absolutely correct.
I have heard for many years that someone, somebody, somewhere must "pay their fair share" but the speaker never, but never, defines who that somebody is - it is never HIM or HER, of course! - but is always SOMEONE ELSE. Further, they don't ever, not ever, define precisely what constitutes that "fair share" so, ultimately, it is only rhetoric to take from one group, launder it like the mob, through the government and pay a small amount to some other group. Of course, the lion's share of the amount so taken is retained by the government to pay salaries, etc., etc.
I am 73 and am therefore lucky that I am approaching death where I won't be subject to hearing all the bleating of those who keep demanding "fairness" without defining it (other than SOMEONE ELSE is stopping THEM, blah, blah, blah). I am unlucky in that my children and grandchildren will have to live in this wretched country; if they were smarter they would simply pull up stakes and leave.
Typical Trudeau math: "only 40,000 people will be affected!" - which is itself BS, but consider also that more than 300,000 corps are caught up in this. Does he think that the individuals behind corporations aren't "people"? The man is so clueless, so utterly incompetent.
Peter McCaffrey at the Alberta Institute this morning"
"The federal budget, released on Tuesday, confirmed many economists' and commentators’ grim predictions. It unveiled a staggering $40 billion deficit, dwarfed only by an even more alarming $52.9 billion in spending over and above previous plans.
The budget's most controversial measure, however, was a significant tax hike - an increase in the capital gains tax inclusion rate from 50% to 66.6% on gains exceeding $250,000. The government described this as a minor adjustment affecting less than 1% of the wealthiest Canadians.
Many on social media seem to have bought this tired old “tax the rich” narrative yet again. But, this narrative is nothing more than government spin and - as always - this policy will affect everyone, not just those dastardly one percenters.
How, you ask?
Well, the "less than 1% of Canadians" figure is incredibly misleading because it only accounts for people who pay capital gains tax directly on their own personal income tax bills. In reality, a much larger portion of Canadians will pay this tax directly, and almost every single Canadian will pay it indirectly.
First, it’s important to realize that the "less than 1% of Canadians" paying this tax are not the same people each year. It fails to consider Canadians who might sell a major asset like a family cottage, a small business, or a substantial investment and then face this heightened tax rate in that particular year. So, while it’s true that not many people will pay this tax every year, many will pay it once or twice, or more, throughout their lives.
That’s a lot more than less than 1% of Canadians already, from just that one omission.
Second, directly paying a capital gains tax when you file your personal taxes isn't the only way you can pay capital gains taxes. And, worse, the $250,000 exemption applies only to individuals, not to businesses. If you're a small- to medium-sized business owner, your business could end up paying this higher tax most or even every year.
So, now almost every Canadian who runs a business is paying this new higher tax - and they weren’t included in the 1% calculation either.
Third, let’s not forget that this new tax rate doesn’t just apply to personal investment accounts, but also to any investments held within a business. So, even if your business isn’t active anymore, and you just have some savings left in a corporation, well, you’re paying, too.
Who knows what percentage of Canadians we’re up to now but, it sure isn’t 1% anymore, is it?
And we’re not done there, either. The ramifications extend even further, as anyone with a TFSA, or an RRSP, or even just a pension from your employer, is going to indirectly pay this tax too
But TFSAs and RRSPs are exempt from tax, I hear you say.
Sure, it’s true that TFSAs and RRSPs shelter you from any direct capital gains taxes that you would have personally had to pay. But, the businesses whose shares you own in those accounts still have to pay the tax, and this capital gains tax increase is effectively an increase in the business tax rate that every business has to pay.
And as these businesses face higher tax obligations, their profitability diminishes. This, in turn, leads to lower dividends for shareholders and a decrease in share value, affecting the overall value of individual investment portfolios.
Suddenly, anyone with an investment account is paying this new higher tax.
And it gets worse - this hit to share values will also apply to many of the investments held by the Canada Pension Plan, too. Again, yes, the CPP itself is exempt from taxes - but the Canadian businesses it invests in aren’t, and those investments will certainly decline in value relative to where they could have been.
So, now, almost literally every single Canadian is being affected by this tax hike, and the ridiculousness of claiming a tax hike only affects the 1% to begin with is revealed. Despite the government’s claims that such fiscal measures only affect a wealthy few, in reality, they influence the broader economic environment, affecting all levels of society and the overall health of our economy."
In my experience, everyone who says "the rich should pay their fair share" define "rich" as "anyone who has more money than I do". A distant cousin of mine owns a huge rural property, 2 cars, a boat, has no debt, and still feels that "the rich need to pay their fair share". They did not like me pointing out their net assets...
Also a retired accountant, who spent a number of years doing NTR work for Lawyers and Drs with PCs. and plenty of small business NTRs, Reviews and audits where necessary. I totally agree with you. I joined social media in 2016 when this government basically called them all tax cheats! I'd really hate to see what would happen to this country if "the wealthy" got up and left. We've already lost the likes of Murray Edwards and The Bronfmans due to tax policies, how many more will leave?
Pat, what many people don't realize is just how mobile many of these folks really are. What they further don't realize is that many of the "wealthy" class of folks are folks who work for international companies who are serving a rotation in Canada. All it will take is for many of these international folks to start refusing to come to Canada because of taxes and many of these companies will look strongly at leaving.
And, yes, we have many examples of folks who have already left and it could well become a much greater number.
Exactly, especially Doctors, very mobile, very in demand! I think we already see this lack of enthusiasm for Canada in professional sports, the best of the best is most sports do not choose Canadian teams to ply their craft, they hone their skills when they are young on Canadian teams and go south as free agents.
I agree with you 100%... However...
A Dr or Lawyer with a PC cannot sell their corporation at the end of their career, it is just wound up. The small business plumber, or electrical can sell his for a capital gain or sell assets etc. In the future businesses will find a way to limit capital gains using wealth preservation strategies. You can be sure the tax accountants and lawyers are already working on this. That is why they make the big bucks!
You know, I always wonder about these people that complain about Doctor salaries. I pay my hairdresser more than my family Dr for 15 minutes of her time. Surely a person's health is worth more than the $40 being paid by AHS for a Doctor visit.
Yes, Dr. Les what middle class? We are well on our way to the WEF's goals for us useless eaters. Right, we will own nothing and be happy, right? Wrong, we are already a sad, dejected, hostile country and as divided as we could ever be. Trudope just doesn't want anyone to have anything extra, other than the handouts they want to pass out to keep citizens ever more reliant on this miserable government. Angry, you bet I am! What with all the money they are stealing from us, you can rest assured it is going to all the 'free' social programs and foreign aid and, and, and.......
Gotta love all the commie doctors getting on all fours to justify this clusterfuck of a budget.