Taxes

As you’re reading this, it is day 57 or so of the Canada Revenue Agency’s “100-Day Plan” to try to improve its call centres . The development of a plan was announced by Minister François Champagne on Sept. 2, after saying on X (formerly known as Twitter) that it was apparent the CRA was not […]

Governments understandably don’t like criticism, but it’s part of the game. Governments won’t please everyone, yet their policies should be transparent, open and subject to scrutiny, especially when those policies reshape how the country’s finances are presented. Over the past decade, the federal government has developed a habit of responding to criticism not with rigorous

In his 1890 anthropological classic The Golden Bough , Sir James Frazer observed that magic rests on the mistaken belief that human ritual can compel nature to obey. That belief was part of my childhood since I was fascinated by magic tricks. As an adult, I still enjoy it. One of my sons took a

One of the things I enjoy is hanging out with tax geeks like me who have a similar passion to see Canada’s tax system improved. Last week, I attended the Canadian Tax Foundation’s Tax Policy Symposium in Toronto, which was attended by roughly 100 in-person tax practitioners, academics and government bureaucrats who work in the

Economist Jack Mintz recently suggested that if the federal government wants to cut public spending, it should put some focus on tax simplification and that tax complexity is an economic growth killer we could reverse if we put our minds to it. I wholeheartedly agree. In my ideal tax world, with the tax law and

The disability tax credit (DTC) is a non-refundable tax credit that is intended to recognize the impact of various non-itemizable disability-related costs. For 2025 the value of the federal credit is $1,521 but add the provincial tax savings and the combined annual value can be up to $3,243, depending on the value of the provincial

The amount of spending that Prime Minister Mark Carney committed to last month is eye-watering. The $9-billion boost to our defence budget and the pledge to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) to eventually spend five per cent of our country’s gross domestic product annually amount to billions in the short term and

You may have heard about the taxation issues that NHL star hockey player John Tavares and others (such as retired future Hall of Famer Patrick Marleau and several NBA players) have faced from the Canada Revenue Agency regarding the tax treatment of their signing bonuses they received while playing for Canadian professional sports teams. The

Applications for the new, much anticipated Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) open on June 20. The tax-free monthly CDB payments are meant to provide financial support to qualifying people with disabilities. The program is administered by Service Canada and the first month of eligibility is June, with the first payments beginning in July for applications received

Applications for the new, much anticipated Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) open on June 20. The tax-free monthly CDB payments are meant to provide financial support to qualifying people with disabilities. The program is administered by Service Canada and the first month of eligibility is June, with the first payments beginning in July for applications received

This coming July 1 will be particularly special. Sure, Canada will be celebrating its 158th birthday that day, but even more exciting for some of us is that the Canada Revenue Agency ’s prescribed interest rate will drop to three per cent on that date, providing a greater opportunity to split income with a spouse

Many tax practitioners, including me, have called for tax reform over the years, but it doesn’t seem to resonate with the average Canadian even though it should. Tax reform for many politicians generally means appeasing their voter base with new tax measures that are often shallow in substance and miss the mark from a good

Canada’s population over the past nine years has grown 15.8 per cent and now tops 41.5 million, so you would expect the federal government’s expenditures to increase over that time period as well. Although population growth is not perfectly correlated to expenditure growth — political ideology and spending commitments, rising interest rates , inflation and

Spousal registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) have been around for decades, and for many couples, these plans can play an important role in reducing tax upon retirement. But, they can be complicated, and it’s important to understand how they work and when they are most appropriately used in retirement. Let’s review the contribution rules, and

The United States House of Representatives last week passed Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act , a voluminous and complex piece of proposed legislation that contains numerous tax amendments that could end up hurting Canadian pension plans and other investors. The act includes things such as making permanent certain personal tax rate reductions (which

With the 2024 tax season now over for most of us (those with self-employment income and their spouse or partner still have until June 16 to file), the preliminary tax filing stats have been released by the Canada Revenue Agency . Of the 29.9 million personal tax returns filed to date, 94 per cent of

Canada’s federal finance minister has announced that a budget will not be presented during the upcoming session of Parliament, but there will be a fall economic statement (FES) presented later this year, which surprised many and it should. Isn’t one of the basic constitutional principles of our democracy that taxpayer money cannot be spent without