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[screams into pillow so loudly that the pillow explodes but inside the pillow is a thousand living doves who peck me to death]
As I've said a thousand times, there's stuff to criticize about how Trudeau went about reforming the tax code for small businesses — or, more specifically, professional services corporations. But to roll back all of those changes is *insane.*
This change will let doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers hide their income from the top tax bracket. That is the effect of these changes. It re-introduces loopholes that allows rich people to minimize their tax burden. It is not tax relief for small mom-and-pop stores.
I thought we were done with this shit. Two years ago, rich people went to the ramparts to defend rules which allowed them to funnel their income through a numbered company, into the bank accounts of their children in order to sneak past the top tax rate. We want that back?!
Almost every defence of these loopholes were either based on a faulty premise or made in bad faith. Myself and @VanmalaS spent a bunch of time researching exactly how these tricks worked, and why they were bad. vice.com/en_ca/article/…
@VanmalaS I went on CBC to plead with the world: Stop pretending as though the defenders of these loopholes are hard-done-by small businesses. They're not! They're individuals who have incorporated themselves and who, generally, don't have staff or capital costs.
@VanmalaS But I thought, for sure, this topic was dead when we got a copy of the Tory's playbook on this. It's full of factual errors. And they admit, internally, that this was about rich doctors. vice.com/en_ca/article/…
@VanmalaS But, NO, of course, this fucking thing has to come back like some zombified door-to-door snake oil huckster. Because politics is, if nothing else, an exercise is madness.
@VanmalaS Let's break it down.
“Justin Trudeau thinks small businesses are tax cheats."
'Cheat' is a strong word, sure. But, show of hands, who has swapped stocks in a numbered companies between our close relatives in order to take advantage of the 50% capital gains tax? Nobody? Ok.
“Justin Trudeau thinks small businesses are tax cheats."
'Cheat' is a strong word, sure. But, show of hands, who has swapped stocks in a numbered companies between our close relatives in order to take advantage of the 50% capital gains tax? Nobody? Ok.
"Repeal Trudeau’s tax increases on small business investments."
There's a word missing. They're *passive* investments. So not a mortgage on a new factory, say, but revenue, taxed at the 9% small business rate, put into the stock market to maximize returns.
There's a word missing. They're *passive* investments. So not a mortgage on a new factory, say, but revenue, taxed at the 9% small business rate, put into the stock market to maximize returns.
"Exempt spouses from Trudeau’s tax increases on small business dividends"
We already have income splitting! Why in jeebus' name is it those who hold numbered companies' gosh-given right to pay their spouse, who is not operating on people at the hospital, a chunk of their income?
We already have income splitting! Why in jeebus' name is it those who hold numbered companies' gosh-given right to pay their spouse, who is not operating on people at the hospital, a chunk of their income?
Like, when your partner comes home from the factory, do they hand you half their paycheck and say "here's your cut, be sure to report this on your taxes!" No! Of course not. (And, again, this is literally the concept behind income splitting, which you do on your taxes.)
"Make it easier to navigate Canada’s tax system and the Canada Revenue Agency."
YES FOR PEOPLE WITH EXPENSIVE ACCOUNTANTS.
YES FOR PEOPLE WITH EXPENSIVE ACCOUNTANTS.
"Trudeau tried to hike taxes on small businesses’ investment income to 73 per cent."
Yes, unless they withdrew their income from the corporation, paid the income taxes they owe on said income, and then invest it like a regular person.
Yes, unless they withdrew their income from the corporation, paid the income taxes they owe on said income, and then invest it like a regular person.
"[He] then went after small business owners’ spouses, ending a long-standing tax exemption on dividend payments."
You know that old saying, "it can't be unscrupulous tax avoidance if it's long-standing"? Yeah, me either.
You know that old saying, "it can't be unscrupulous tax avoidance if it's long-standing"? Yeah, me either.
There's other stuff in Scheer's announcement — cutting red tape, support small businesses, boost innovation, yadda yadda yadda. That stuff is all fine.
But please drop this. For my sake. Before I just move to Belize.
But please drop this. For my sake. Before I just move to Belize.
Dear other journalists: If you run Scheer's comments without any context of what these tax changes actually did, I'm going to start forwarding you all my junk mail.
Stewart, here, is quite right. My brain forgot this thing. (Income splitting, in general, *is* bad. If you want people to pay less taxes just change the damn tax rate.)
And just a bit of extra reading. The Globe did some really great numbers crunching on this. theglobeandmail.com/report-on-busi…
Worth noting the Liberals dropped parts of the plan which they feared could have knock-on effects. (Scheer took credit for those changes today.) They have suggested the loopholes will still get closed, but with an eye to protecting family farms, eventually theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/…
