Athletes & Canadian Taxes

[Scase]

You could tax less and spend less. You could tax less and take on more debt. For some reason we tax more and take on more debt. Next year we have less money because of interest on the debt so we tax more and take on more debt.

Don't tax the poor more. Don't tax people who can easily leave more. You have to cut spending, pay off the debt then in a few years you can use the interest payments for services.

Does anyone here keep borrowing more money year after year to buy things just to make you feel good for the moment? Why would you want the government to do that?

Cut spending on what exactly? The healthcare in the country has been in the crapper for like 20 years, healthcare workers, teachers etc. get paid peanuts, and so on. So where exactly is the money going?

It's weird though, the group that loves to cry about low taxes and cutting spending seems to have zero qualms cutting spending from the things they want to privatize, and cut taxes for the people they just so happen to be a part of. Definitely couldn't be that, it must just be improper spending.

Your province funds healthcare and each province is different so lets focus on the federal government. What could you cut on the federal side? You could hold off new spending like daycare, dental plans until you can afford it. You could cut federal employees. Billion dollar programs like we charity. You could cut a million things. Everything from the Prime Minister's assistants hat budget to advertising how great things are. You could cut hockey Canada budget. Keep what is important and cut the frills. Stop shopping at Metro and hit a dollar store until you can afford it.

You deserve more than you buy yourself. You could have a bigger hat budget. What stops you from taking out a loan each year to increase your hat budget? It's probably not that important to you. Someone like Gary has a massive hat budget but he can afford it. You may feel Canada should be able to afford a bigger hat budget but the budget says we need to borrow to afford it.

I'm not saying there aren't dumb things to cut from, I'm saying that social services always seem to be on the chopping block, and never the "hat" budgets.

But suggesting that the rich/wealthy shouldn't be paying more is absurd. You know what will pay the debt down faster? Cutting spending and increasing taxes on the rich. I don't know about your financial situation, but my marginal tax rate is 48%, and I'm not in any way shape or form, ever wanting for anything. And I am by no means "wealthy", I could easily pay more in taxes and still live an extremely comfortable life.

I'm happy my taxes go towards social services and helping people less fortunate, and if I can manage it, people much wealthier than I can do the same without even feeling it. Not to meme it but, we live in a society, and taking care of each other is paramount to a countries success. Your suggestion of cutting spending doesn't mean you can't also tax the wealthy more.

[KL78192020]

Yep, lets tax all the people with no money, that'll be sure to fix society. But I'm sure you're in the tax bracket that even feels these rates right?

You could tax less and spend less. You could tax less and take on more debt. For some reason we tax more and take on more debt. Next year we have less money because of interest on the debt so we tax more and take on more debt.

Don't tax the poor more. Don't tax people who can easily leave more. You have to cut spending, pay off the debt then in a few years you can use the interest payments for services.

Does anyone here keep borrowing more money year after year to buy things just to make you feel good for the moment? Why would you want the government to do that?

Cut spending on what exactly? The healthcare in the country has been in the crapper for like 20 years, healthcare workers, teachers etc. get paid peanuts, and so on. So where exactly is the money going?

It's weird though, the group that loves to cry about low taxes and cutting spending seems to have zero qualms cutting spending from the things they want to privatize, and cut taxes for the people they just so happen to be a part of. Definitely couldn't be that, it must just be improper spending.

There are many things that can be review and should be cut. I've worked with McKinsey consultants and these guys are swindlers.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/procurement-ombud-mckinsey-contracting-1.7174454

The big 4 also get a lot of contracts that end up being useless projects and milk the gov't. From a provincial perspective in education there is an issue with cost issues related to procurement that need to be addressed.

The high cost to perform tens of thousands of small jobs — hanging pictures, mounting bulletin boards and yes, more pencil sharpener installations — are costing the Toronto District School Board a small fortune, according to data obtained by the Star.

This is old, but just the tip of the iceberg. My girlfriend is a teacher, and tells me all types of stories of wasted spending.

At one school, Emery Collegiate Institute in North York, a work crew was summoned to hang three pictures one day in March 2011, a job that took seven hours and cost $266. Eight days later, workers were once again called to the same school to “hang three pictures on the wall.” That time, workers billed for 24 hours at a cost to taxpayers of $857.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/tdsb-s-143-school-pencil-sharpener-just-the-beginning/article_43462947-d05c-55c3-853c-3235b4aaaa3d.html

Government contracts for construction projects are a whole other topic. Just a lot of shadiness and mismanagement of funds.

[Scase]

Canadian taxes don't make sense. Taxing the rich makes them move elsewhere and reduces the amount of employers. I can't wait for new leadership, that's hopefully more economically conscience.

Yep, lets tax all the people with no money, that'll be sure to fix society. But I'm sure you're in the tax bracket that even feels these rates right?

What does taxing the rich even mean. Tax rates are pretty high on the tax bracket over $100k, but a $100k is nowhere what it once was. I do think income taxes should be reduced in that federal bracket of $111k to $173k, inflation has reduced what that income bracket once was. People making $246k are taxed the same rate and those making millions which seems odd.

The sunshine list in Ontario is also completely outdated. It was introduced in 1996 for people making over 100k. Based on inflation it should be $175k.

The issue is that the people "making millions" aren't making millions in salaries, they are making it through investments. And as soon as the gov suggests increasing capital gains, which would help with the issue you are laying out, everyone and their mother loses their ****. The person making 246k is not going to be subject to the new capital gains taxes as those only impact people who generate more than that amount a year just in capital gains.

The problem is, that the people who typically vote against these types of changes wont make that amount of money in 5 years, yet they vote against their own interests. The tax brackets could stand to use some updating for sure, but again, look what happened when a plan to increase taxes on 0.13% of the canadian populace was suggested?

Everyone wants all the services, but don't want to pay for it.

[Scase]

You could tax less and spend less. You could tax less and take on more debt. For some reason we tax more and take on more debt. Next year we have less money because of interest on the debt so we tax more and take on more debt.

Don't tax the poor more. Don't tax people who can easily leave more. You have to cut spending, pay off the debt then in a few years you can use the interest payments for services.

Does anyone here keep borrowing more money year after year to buy things just to make you feel good for the moment? Why would you want the government to do that?

Cut spending on what exactly? The healthcare in the country has been in the crapper for like 20 years, healthcare workers, teachers etc. get paid peanuts, and so on. So where exactly is the money going?

It's weird though, the group that loves to cry about low taxes and cutting spending seems to have zero qualms cutting spending from the things they want to privatize, and cut taxes for the people they just so happen to be a part of. Definitely couldn't be that, it must just be improper spending.

There are many things that can be review and should be cut. I've worked with McKinsey consultants and these guys are swindlers.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/procurement-ombud-mckinsey-contracting-1.7174454

The big 4 also get a lot of contracts that end up being useless projects and milk the gov't. From a provincial perspective in education there is an issue with cost issues related to procurement that need to be addressed.

The high cost to perform tens of thousands of small jobs — hanging pictures, mounting bulletin boards and yes, more pencil sharpener installations — are costing the Toronto District School Board a small fortune, according to data obtained by the Star.

This is old, but just the tip of the iceberg. My girlfriend is a teacher, and tells me all types of stories of wasted spending.

At one school, Emery Collegiate Institute in North York, a work crew was summoned to hang three pictures one day in March 2011, a job that took seven hours and cost $266. Eight days later, workers were once again called to the same school to “hang three pictures on the wall.” That time, workers billed for 24 hours at a cost to taxpayers of $857.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/tdsb-s-143-school-pencil-sharpener-just-the-beginning/article_43462947-d05c-55c3-853c-3235b4aaaa3d.html

Government contracts for construction projects are a whole other topic. Just a lot of shadiness and mismanagement of funds.

I'm definitely not educated enough on the school board one you linked above, but I'm fairly confident that, that isn't a federal contract. I could be wrong, but it sounds provincial no?

As for the McKinsey stuff, I fully agree with you, but I also accept that there is always going to be some level of corruption and favouritism in government. It happens at every level, with every party. So how exactly do we fix it? Voting for a different party isn't changing that, they all do it. I'm all for more oversight on this stuff, so no arguments from me. I just don't think it's a simple "yeah cut spending here, it's e z." you need the elected officials that don't do stuff like that, but sadly, they all do.

[KL78192020]

Yep, lets tax all the people with no money, that'll be sure to fix society. But I'm sure you're in the tax bracket that even feels these rates right?

What does taxing the rich even mean. Tax rates are pretty high on the tax bracket over $100k, but a $100k is nowhere what it once was. I do think income taxes should be reduced in that federal bracket of $111k to $173k, inflation has reduced what that income bracket once was. People making $246k are taxed the same rate and those making millions which seems odd.

The sunshine list in Ontario is also completely outdated. It was introduced in 1996 for people making over 100k. Based on inflation it should be $175k.

The issue is that the people "making millions" aren't making millions in salaries, they are making it through investments. And as soon as the gov suggests increasing capital gains, which would help with the issue you are laying out, everyone and their mother loses their ****. The person making 246k is not going to be subject to the new capital gains taxes as those only impact people who generate more than that amount a year just in capital gains.

The problem is, that the people who typically vote against these types of changes wont make that amount of money in 5 years, yet they vote against their own interests. The tax brackets could stand to use some updating for sure, but again, look what happened when a plan to increase taxes on 0.13% of the canadian populace was suggested?

Everyone wants all the services, but don't want to pay for it.

Yea, I think the taxes on some of those capital gains should be higher, people buy multiple properties as speculative investments have also driven up the market and created an affordability crisis, based on income levels there is no reason housing should be so expensive. Those people cant just leave Canada to hide the income, the properties are in Canada.

Income taxes should be lowered on regular income under the bracket I mentioned, but the new capital gains tax increase isn't a big deal.

[SpezNc]

Canadian taxes don't make sense. Taxing the rich makes them move elsewhere and reduces the amount of employers. I can't wait for new leadership, that's hopefully more economically conscience.

Meh! New Leadership will not change that .

We have more social programs in Canada hence more taxes . And guess what we live longer here compare to our American friends .

I would not trade place !

[Thaddy]

Canadian taxes don't make sense. Taxing the rich makes them move elsewhere and reduces the amount of employers. I can't wait for new leadership, that's hopefully more economically conscience.

Meh! New Leadership will not change that .

We have more social programs in Canada hence more taxes . And guess what we live longer here compare to our American friends .

I would not trade place !

Reducing spending is the first one. Making sure services are for Canadian citizens and reducing grants and subsidy to PRs is another move. I'm sure the Conservatives will implement some changes.

[Kingsway_fan]

Canadian taxes don't make sense. Taxing the rich makes them move elsewhere and reduces the amount of employers. I can't wait for new leadership, that's hopefully more economically conscience.

Yes. The Flood of top talent exciting Canada now is at alltime record levels ... Canadian standard of living has declined substantially from what it was 20 or 30 years ago...

[CPT]

The tweet in the OP is just wrong, and it is arguing the opposite of what it says in the article. The whole point is that Florida (and other no income tax teams) pay less, not more.

That being said, while the perception alone is probably enough to make it worth considering, I've always heard a decent accountant can make the difference approach zero.

[Thaddy]

Canadian taxes don't make sense. Taxing the rich makes them move elsewhere and reduces the amount of employers. I can't wait for new leadership, that's hopefully more economically conscience.

Yes. The Flood of top talent exciting Canada now is at alltime record levels ... Canadian standard of living has declined substantially from what it was 20 or 30 years ago...

If you look at our top universities a lot of the talent uses the TN and goes down south. We aren't retaining our talent and building companies in Canada despite our vast resources. It's expensive to operate a corporation here compared to the US and that means fewer employers and fewer jobs.

We need to reduce spending, allow more competition when it comes to grocery chains, crown corps, telecomm companies, and the other monopolies that dirt bags like Galen are in control of.

The government's plan is to give subsidies to start ups for seed funding because VC is hard to gather here. Well you can guess what occurs with that! The recipients scam, and don't work hard to satisfy the government agents overseeing them do not care, because it's not (directly) their money being used.

[BBS22]

I like Allan Walsh and listen to his podcast now and then. He made this point in one episode and it wasn't very persuasive if I remembered correctly (I could be wrong).

Basically the money for Americans is setup in a trust which allows them to withdraw at a smaller rate for tax reasons over a long period of time (I believe it continues after playing days).

His best point in that episode was that players get taxed in the area they play in. So basically half the season they play at home the tax law applies to them specifically. It's how the Leafs have somewhat gotten around signing bonuses (very fuzzy memory). He made a point that Matthews on July 1st is owed a bulk of his money from his contract signed in Arizona, with a favourable tax law. And is taxed throughout the season on the minimum contract whatever that is worth per game in per area.

Theoretically, even players in Florida still get taxed the same way every time they play a home game in Toronto (keeping this very simple, there's a ton of tax provisions and international treaties applied). The difference is that they swing by Toronto maybe 2-4 times a season in the NBA/MLB season. NHL is a tad different due to the Canadian franchises hence the need for quality accountants.

All this is to say: if you're an elite talent at BEST you MIGHT break even with an great accountant doing creative math. But athletes are about the now and more certainty. Try explaining to a young 25-26 year superstar that if they do a million shell corporations and loopholes they might have a wash or pay a little more to play in Canada ... or just play in a tax free state with an accountant that most of your peers use with near absolute certainty you'll have money sooner.

All this is to say the biggest deciding factor that no one tax accountant can help you with: Florida weather (and various American states like Nashville). Even California taxation is relatively similar to Toronto but the weather provides you a lifestyle you can't get in Toronto. Want to drive your lambo to a pool party with bikini models during the regular season? Hard to do that in Canada.

[bluerap23]

You could tax less and spend less. You could tax less and take on more debt. For some reason we tax more and take on more debt. Next year we have less money because of interest on the debt so we tax more and take on more debt.

Don't tax the poor more. Don't tax people who can easily leave more. You have to cut spending, pay off the debt then in a few years you can use the interest payments for services.

Does anyone here keep borrowing more money year after year to buy things just to make you feel good for the moment? Why would you want the government to do that?

Cut spending on what exactly? The healthcare in the country has been in the crapper for like 20 years, healthcare workers, teachers etc. get paid peanuts, and so on. So where exactly is the money going?

It's weird though, the group that loves to cry about low taxes and cutting spending seems to have zero qualms cutting spending from the things they want to privatize, and cut taxes for the people they just so happen to be a part of. Definitely couldn't be that, it must just be improper spending.

Your province funds healthcare and each province is different so lets focus on the federal government. What could you cut on the federal side? You could hold off new spending like daycare, dental plans until you can afford it. You could cut federal employees. Billion dollar programs like we charity. You could cut a million things. Everything from the Prime Minister's assistants hat budget to advertising how great things are. You could cut hockey Canada budget. Keep what is important and cut the frills. Stop shopping at Metro and hit a dollar store until you can afford it.

You deserve more than you buy yourself. You could have a bigger hat budget. What stops you from taking out a loan each year to increase your hat budget? It's probably not that important to you. Someone like Gary has a massive hat budget but he can afford it. You may feel Canada should be able to afford a bigger hat budget but the budget says we need to borrow to afford it.

The federal gov contributes to healthcare in Canada. They pay about 1/4.