I FILLED OUT MY INCOME TAX FOR THE LAST TIME

     Yes, old Red, the last of the great do it yourselfers, has filled out income tax forms for the last time! Now before some misread this as I don't have to file income tax! No such luck.

    I have filled out income tax forms since 1959. It was a bit of a surprise for a 19 year old to discover he had to file an income tax form. So for for 59 years I have faithfully and honestly filled out my tax forms. 

    Why am I quitting? I'll blame it on the Micro Manager. Much of our reporting has to go together and the Micro manager is not willing to go through the hassle anymore.

    I find that the forms get more convoluted every year. The government tries to satisfy many groups that lobby for breaks. So there are breaks for music  lessons, bus travel, gym fees...you got it . Everybody gets a break...even seniors.

   And that brings me to my point. Here's a challenge. Here senior couples, where only one gets a pension, can split some pension income so that they both can take advantage of a break and claim the maximum for non refundable tax credits. Okay, I won't complain about a benefit as it saves us $150.00.

    Now here's the problem and I get a headache trying to write about this. The guy withe the pension transfers $2000.00 to the spouse without the pension. Pension guy's income is $2000.00 less. Pensionless guy must add $2000.00 to their income. After that, pension guy must subtract the tax he would have been paying on the $2000.00 he's giving away and pensionless guy must add the tax to their return. It's a simple switch. 

    Now you can guess the tax people could spoil this by inventing a form that is impossibly  complicated. You have to read it a 100 times and each time the Micro Manager and I disagree because it is written in a very awkward way.

   I know , accountants have to do their job and make a form that will do the job.

   So with such convoluted forms , I'm not that unhappy to give up my job filling in my tax return.

    Now I just have to look for an accountant that I like.

    ...and I'll bet there's no prize(break) for filling out tax forms for 59 years.

THREE RING CIRCUS

    A three ring circus took place at my house today. I'm not sure if there are real three ring circuses anymore but there was one today.

    I was one ring. The Micro Manager  was a second ring and the poor little income tax information officer was the third ring.

    How did this turn into a circus? Well we had a tax issue. The micro manager and I could not understand how the issue could be dealt with. We had gone over the information many times and could not agree. We both stick to our ideas very rigidly so a solution is hard to get to.  So we phoned the income tax number.

   To start with, our understanding of the issue was hazy at best. So the tax person wasn't really sure what we wanted. The said tax person referred us to parts of the guide that would help us. Well, that only muddled us up more. The Micro Manage thought one thing and I thought another. We tried again and ended up in more confusion. So the micro manager and I were talking to each other and debating things back and forth. I guess the tax person leaned back and said, "Let'em go at it."
   For one minute we would think that we understood things and then suddenly it wouldn't fit.

    I must say that the advisor we had was weak at best. Everything we asked she would put us on hold and look for info. When I phone these people I expect a clear explanation.

    After about 40 minutes , I wrote the micro manager a note and said let's get off of here because this bird doesn't know anything. Twenty minutes later the Micro Manager thanked the tax person and said we'd work on it. 

    So after 90 minutes we got nothing.

    So the three ring circus just went round and round.

    I imagine it would have been quite entertaining if someone had been watching.

    So now we still have to find out how to calculate the problem correctly.

   I think there will be another showing of the three ring circus.

BUSINESS TAX

     Our country, Canada , is looking at some proposals to change the small business tax to make it "fairer"

    We have a very low business tax in this country. It's much lower than what the ordinary working citizen would be taxed at. 

   Then there are the "loop holes." Businesses can income sprinkle. I like that term. It means that a small business can pay family members a salary if they are under 24. This means that the kids would be taxed at the lowest rate. It also means that the small business has less income to pay taxes on.

    Then there are shares that can be bought in the business which means no tax is paid at all.

     Then there are special taxes when the business is sold or passed on and these taxes are also low. For example, farmers are exempt from capital gains on a certain part of their farm.

     So the small business people are up in arms. They can come up with all kinds of silly reasons why the tax should remain at the low rate. Most of it is their own choice. They don't have employment insurance or other benefits. They could buy these benefits like I do. The cost of benefits were deducted from my paycheck.They have long hours of work. Well, guess what? I worked 60 hours a week when I taught. I was not able to get time off to go to my kid's school interviews. They gave me three days to travel to another province for my Mother's funeral.

     Small businesses  feel they should get a tax break for creating jobs. 

    So I am taxed at a higher rate than small businesses. Not fair. It's been going on for a long time and the government is seeing tax that they are not collecting.

   So I hope that some of the proposed changes are adopted and the tax rates are fair