Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:07 pm
Norma: I would say I'm not a fan of either. Junior is not the mental heavy-weight his father was. But both are/were very impressive people. And I'm not ashamed of Junior or his father as our representative to the world even though I don't agree with their political views in many, many, cases.
Currently Junior is busy rewriting the tax code because business people are keeping an 'unfair' amount of their income by following the rules. Very similar to Obama's comments to business people "You didn't build that", Justin feels that those business people who do succeed are somehow cheating by paying less tax than employees, most often through tax splitting with spouses who also work for the business. For example, me.
Since Canadians are taxed on our own income not on family income, if I earn $4k per year and dh earns $100K, the family will pay $30K roughly, in taxes. If we share income, the family will pay less than $25K in taxes. All those years dh was salaried, he worked long hours and could travel from Saturday night to Friday night (back then his employer required he stay over a Saturday to get cheaper airfare) because I handled all the childcare and household tasks, repairs, lawn care, car care, money management and all dh had to do was work. Other executives may have a personal assistant or executive assistant. One of my sisters-in-law does similar work for her C-level boss in one of Canada's largest companies. Literally, arranging his personal and business life so he can focus on work. If she was married to him, she would not be able to draw a salary for doing the work she does but it is much of the work an at-home mother does. Legally, I was not allowed to be paid for these tasks, including childcare, even though other people paid me to take care of their children and I paid taxes on the money others paid me.
Once we started our own business and I was an equal owner, suddenly I was paying taxes and into the pension plan. So, should dh and I divorce, I'll have some retirement income (about $300 per month) in my old age. Finally, I was being paid for all the work I did since when it is a home-based business, and my time cleaning the office, arranging dh's flights, doing the bookkeeping, paying the bills were suddenly things he could pay me for.
But that, according to Justin, is a sign that we are dodging taxes and my contribution to the business should not count.
Small business people also can't draw Employment Insurance, so if the business goes under, there's no safety net. EI also is disability insurance but we can't draw on that either, so if dh is injured and can't work, that's the end of our income, no safety net.
Those downsides are the flip side to us not paying as much tax. But Justin doesn't see it that way. We are being portrayed as the equivalent to tax cheats, even though all we've done is follow the tax law. So he's changing the tax laws.
So, no, I'm not a fan of Junior.