tax

Friday September 22, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 22, 2017

Bill Morneau, Justin Trudeau left untouched by proposed new tax rules

The proposed new small business tax changes do not impact family trusts or numbered companies, used by Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to shield their family’s vast fortunes.

April 6, 2016

Trudeau’s personal wealth, which was inherited from his father, is held in numbered corporations. And Morneau has money in a family trust and numbered corporations.

The NDP took direct aim at Morneau who argued that the Liberals are going after wealthy people who try to use small-business structures to avoid paying taxes, but would not respond to questions about his family businesses and why the new rules leave out the sheltering of funds for both Trudeau and himself.

April 5, 2016

Morneau is the beneficiary of a number of Canadian companies on one hand, and on the other states “we also want to make sure that we do not have a situation where some people that are, frankly, very well compensated, pay a lower tax rate than others,” said Trudeau. (Source: Global News) 

 

 

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Friday September 15, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 15, 2017

Bill Morneau pushes back on ‘misinformation’ coming out about proposed tax changes

With Parliament due to resume sitting next week, Finance Minister Bill Morneau is digging in on his proposed tax changes and mounting a campaign against what he calls misinformation about it.

March 23, 2017

The tax changes have been the hot topic of discussion at the Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland, where cabinet ministers met for three days this week to prepare for the fall sitting.

It’s not just business groups and opposition Conservatives who’ve been blasting the government in the media; Liberal MPs are increasingly speaking up about their concerns with the proposed changes, including finance committee chair Wayne Easter, who told the Globe and Mail the communication strategy around the reforms was “god-awful.”

Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball told cabinet ministers on Tuesday that there’s a “disconnect” between what the government intends and what the public believes about the changes.

In an interview with the National Post, Morneau said he knows people need more information, and he’s working on getting it out ahead of the Oct. 2 deadline on the consultation process.

November 2, 2016

He said once the consultations are done, the government will consider tweaks to prevent “administrative problems” or other unintended impacts down the road.

Asked if he’s worried that the furor over the changes will put a chill on people thinking about starting a business, Morneau said his emphasis is on protecting investments in active business operations.

“Anything we hear that will discourage people from making investments in their active business will absolutely be taken into consideration,” he said. “Again, our goal is to make sure that people have the opportunity to invest and the incentive to invest in their business.”

He said his government is constantly looking at options for small business incentives. “I don’t have anything to announce right now, but that’s something we are always looking at,” he said. (Source: National Post) 

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Friday June 16, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 16, 2017

Netflix tax? Trudeau says no to MPs’ proposed broadband internet levy

February 11, 2016

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has flatly rejected a controversial recommendation from a parliamentary committee calling for a five per cent tax on broadband internet services.

The new levy, included in a majority report of the Canadian Heritage committee released Thursday, was intended to boost a media sector struggling to adapt to technological changes and evolving consumer habits.

“We respect the independence of committees and Parliament and the work and the studies they do, but allow me to be clear: We’re not raising taxes on the middle class, we’re lowering them,” he said during an event in Montreal. “We’re not going to be raising taxes on the middle class through an internet broadband tax. That is not an idea we are taking on.”

September 24, 2014

Trudeau said his Liberal government was elected on a promise to lower taxes for the middle class and raise them on the wealthiest one per cent.

The committee’s report suggested the proposal would add hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues to the Canadian Media Fund, which already receives a levy on cable bills to finance the production of Canadian content.

The tax, levied on broadband internet providers, would apply to high-speed internet services that allow for the streaming of music, movies and TV shows, but not to slower and less costly services.

Revenue generated by the current cable levy is no longer seen as sufficient in an age of cord cutting and “over-the-top” services that stream content over the internet.

The Heritage committee has spent more than a year studying the industry, which has been steadily losing advertising revenue and market shares to online giants such as Facebook, Netflix and Google. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday January 27, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 27, 2017

Hamilton’s rat problem 5th worst in Ontario

Ranking based on rodent calls to pest control company Orkin Canada

Why President Trump might not be the worst for Canada

March 12, 2015

Hamilton is known for a lot of things, and its rat population is starting to become one of them.

To be sure, we’re not in the big leagues. New York and London, England are definitely the places to go if you want to see furry vermin.

But a recent rodent ranking by a pest control company suggests we are becoming a contender.

Orkin Canada says Hamilton is the fifth “rattiest city” in Ontario. Cities were ranked by the number of rodent (rat and mice) treatments the company performed from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. The ranking was based on both residential and commercial calls.

Toronto was number one in the province followed by Ottawa. An Orkin spokesperson said the results were “not weighed for population size.” So the top five “rattiest cities” list resembles closely the top five municipalities by population in Ontario.

“In theory it is probably correct to see a correlation (between population and rodent treatments) but some cities, Brampton (10), Windsor, (7) and London (12) for example, do not follow this pattern,” a spokesperson for Orkin said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday October 4, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Tuesday October 4, 2016 Trump tax records suggest no federal taxes for years, New York Times reports Donald Trump's business losses in 1995 were so large that they could have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for as many as 18 years, according to records obtained by the New York Times. In a story published online late Saturday, the Times said it anonymously received the first pages of Trump's 1995 state income tax filings in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The filings show a net loss of $915,729,293 in federal taxable income for the year. Trump's campaign released a statement on Saturday lashing out at the Times for publishing the records and accused the newspaper of working to benefit the Republican nominee's presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. "Mr. Trump is a highly skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required," the statement said. "That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions," it said. Trump initially said that he would make his tax returns public during the course of his campaign but later switched course, citing what he said were years of ongoing IRS audits and the advice of his attorneys to keep them private as those audits proceed. Tax experts say there's no prohibition on Trump releasing his returns. Since 1976, every major party presidential nominee has released tax returns. Clinton has publicly released nearly 40 years' worth, and Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has released 10 years of his tax returns. (Source: CBC News) http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-nyt-taxes-1.3787914 USA, United States, politics, taxes, tax, income, Donald Trump, dodger, baseb

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 4, 2016

Trump tax records suggest no federal taxes for years, New York Times reports

Donald Trump’s business losses in 1995 were so large that they could have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for as many as 18 years, according to records obtained by the New York Times.

In a story published online late Saturday, the Times said it anonymously received the first pages of Trump’s 1995 state income tax filings in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The filings show a net loss of $915,729,293 in federal taxable income for the year.

Trump’s campaign released a statement on Saturday lashing out at the Times for publishing the records and accused the newspaper of working to benefit the Republican nominee’s presidential rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“Mr. Trump is a highly skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the statement said.

October 16, 2015

October 16, 2015

“That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions,” it said.

Trump initially said that he would make his tax returns public during the course of his campaign but later switched course, citing what he said were years of ongoing IRS audits and the advice of his attorneys to keep them private as those audits proceed.

Tax experts say there’s no prohibition on Trump releasing his returns.

Since 1976, every major party presidential nominee has released tax returns. Clinton has publicly released nearly 40 years’ worth, and Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has released 10 years of his tax returns. (Source: CBC News)