Sunday, May 04, 2008

Taxes, Did You Come Out Ahead This Year?

The deadline has come and gone, so now all I'm waiting for is my refund. I was supposed to pay money, but then I transfered the child credit of $1000 per child under 18 from my husband to me, and presto, refund!

Acording to my calculations, each child under 18 is a $250 refund. Tack that on to the tax rate being reduced, the bus refund, and income splitting, most people are sitting with extra money in their pocket. Don't forget the 2% reduction of the GST, that is huge, no matter what the economists say. Believe me, I know many economists, and they disagree about everything.

Canadians are sitting back, enjoying their refunds, and thinking that the Conservatives are doing a great job.

Include the $100 a month childcare money, and who but the clueless lefties can complain? They want to raise gas prices with a carbon tax. I have never met a tax I liked.

Maybe we can all use a potion of our refunds to help the people fighting the HRC's, take some of that money and support one or all of the 5 people being sued.

Did anyone else find they benefited from the tax reductions, or am I the only one?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got a great refund and so did my husband, which surprised me as we usually have to pay. We kept checking the return over (thankfully it was a computer generated return so it was more believable) to see if we had made a mistake.

So now we have the money in savings and we are wealthier than we were last year. I have heard that many, many Canadians got refunds this year, either more than they got in previous years or they got a refund vs paying.

Anonymous said...

We used income slitting for the first time and i saved over $500.00.Go Harper Go

bert

Anonymous said...

who but the clueless lefties can complain?

You realize, of course, that 64% of Canadians DID NOT vote for Harper. They voted Liberal, NDP, BLoc and Green ( in that order ).

How did you get to be so much smarter than the majority of Canadians?

wilson said...

Didn't Chretien get a majority with 38% of the Cdn vote, do to a divided right...?
2% more, and maybe PMSH will get his majority, eh.

Anon, 70% of Cdns DID NOT vote Liberal,
they voted Conservative, NDP, Bloc and Green, in that order,
and nothing has changed since 2006,
Canadians still do NOT want a Liberal government.

Anonymous said...

For me, the GST reductions have had the biggest impact. After recently moving, I've been involved in a steady stream of home renovation projects (and will continue to be for quite some time), and saving 2% on the all the reno costs and real estate fees has added up significantly.

Since I'm not on a pension yet, I can't take advantage of the income splitting. For my parents, however, the pension splitting saved them in a big way.

hunter said...

Anon 5:33 It must be the blue blood that makes us smarter.

Glad to see that Liberals finally admit that they are lefties, not the centralists they pretend to be. They are now further left than the NDP.

Reid said...

I didn't get a refund. I paid. But that's ok because I owne a corporation and don't actually earn any income. I earn dividends. The reason why paying myself dividends over income is superior is that:

1. I pay less in taxes overall
2. I don't have to give the government my money in advance for them to use interest free. I get to use my money/earn interest.

Financially, 2007 was the best year ever for me. Keep it up Harper.

Anonymous said...

Why don't we get rid of all the useless eaters, then we won't have to pay for welfare or health care. That would save you so much taxes wouldn't it?

The party of "I'm all right Jack" in all its glory.

Reid said...

Anon:

You know what's funny? conservatives donate more to charity than liberals. You know why? Because conservatives don't mind helping people who NEED help. Whereas liberals think it's better to just take from those who work harder and are more successfull than themselves.

You see, we don't NEED nanny state social programs for everyone. I don't NEED $7 a day daycare. And yet liberals say I do because they want me to pay for their daycare for them.

It's got nothing to do with "I'm alright Jack." It's about not taking from others more successfull than you because you're envious of what they have and just don't want to work as hard.

Social programs should be for those who NEED them only. Not for everyone just because. You should try doing for yourself sometime. The feeling of accomplishment is amazing.

Anonymous said...

You know what's funny? conservatives donate more to charity than liberals. You know why? Because conservatives don't mind helping people who NEED help.
Whereas liberals think it's better to just take from those who work harder and are more successfull than themselves.


You know what's really funny? People who quote statistics selectively to "prove" their pre-judged position.

Religious people are three times more likely to donate to charity. Religious liberals are 37% more likely to donate than secular conservatives, while religious conservatives are about 6% more likely than secular liberals.

These statistics also suffer from the problem that they are only measuring charitable tax receipts. When I bring cans of food to a charity drive, I do not get a tax receipt. But you can donate money to a church, and you do get a charitable tax receipt, even for the part of the money that goes to buying stained glass windows.

I suspect you would prefer a return to the days when charity was only based on how much you convince the donors of your "need". So, I suppose the undesirables such as people who are sick with the "wrong" disease, or who are poor because in your opinion it is their own fault, can just go off someplace where we don't have to watch them, and then they can simply die.


You see, we don't NEED nanny state social programs for everyone. I don't NEED $7 a day daycare. And yet liberals say I do because they want me to pay for their daycare for them.

Universal programmes are there so we don't have people dying on the street simply because they can't afford a doctor. Perhaps you would prefer that, and then you can feel good by dropping a few coins in the lap of the "cute" poor people. But not those people you have decided are bad, and who deserve to be suffering because it is their own fault.

It's got nothing to do with "I'm alright Jack."

It has everything to do with it. You are greedy and are willing to give a few coins to help those you think are worthy, and too bad for everyone else.

It's about not taking from others more successfull than you because you're envious of what they have and just don't want to work as hard.

Baloney. Nice try with the envy card. I make plenty of money, and I pay plenty of taxes.

You are the one who is envious of the fact that everyone gets a basic level of living standard, and you think that you could live so much better if we didn't have any social programs.

Unfortunately, what you will find in such a dog eat dog system is that you will pay far more for personal security. You want to run around carrying firearms to protect yourself from the poor who are everywhere? You want to live in a police state? Unless you are willing to exterminate all the poor, they will always be around. Making them part of the system gives you more personal security.

Social programs should be for those who NEED them only.

Social programmes should be for everybody. Otherwise they become something that is under constant attack in a race to the bottom. The "whites only" hospitals were always better than the rest, and the "rich only" hospitals would be the same.

Those who do not "need" social programmes pay for them though taxes. Instead of requiring a means test to access social programs, we have a means test (called the T1) for everyone that helps pay for them.

Not for everyone just because.
Typical rhetoric, belittling universality as if it is some illogical silliness.

You should try doing for yourself sometime. The feeling of accomplishment is amazing.
I do plenty for myself and the feeling of accomplishment is amazing.

When I see people who look like they have very little in life, but they are healthy and not planning to kill me because I have a few things they need to survive, the feeling of accomplishment is even more amazing. It is amazing how people will be mildly resentful of those with more, but will not be willing to kill for it, since they are surviving.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'd like to be polite and stick to the question asked here and say that I too received a bigger refund this year. But after comparing this year's return to last year's, I noticed that the refund stemmed entirely from Federal tax credits, and that I had no Provincial credits to apply, plus had to pay quite a bit for the health tax. Go figure!

Kar Mat

hunter said...

Kar Mat, thanks for getting things back on track.

So far from the responses, we all have more money in our pockets. If every Canadian is finding the same thing, and I hope they are, the Conservative government appears to be on track, and heading in the right direction. Good for them.