Many people get so frustrated with Politics that they tend to give up trying to following what is going on in Parliament, but when it comes to tax talk it usually grabs the interest of those who don’t normally get involved with politics.
So now that we have a new Finance Minister in place who is Joe Oliver and he is gaining some perhaps short lived attention from the tax payers, with his back to parliament speech concerning his remarks on how the Conservative government will live up to their promise of more tax cuts when the budget is balanced.
Whenever we hear speeches that have promises within them we have to keep in mind as to whether it is paving the way for the next election.
One of the hot tax topics lately has been income splitting. This is a tax incentive that currently is only used by seniors. Some politians want to see this tax break extended to everyone. It could make significant changes to the tax obligations of many families that have a higher as well as lower tax payer.
There are past Finance Minister’s like Jim Flaherty who oppose extending the income split. Those that have this belief seem to feel it will only benefit the rich and serves no purpose for the lower income bracket tax payers.
One thing is for sure when it comes to making these types of changes to the taxes they are never made quickly nor without a lot of debate. The controversy will continue back and forth for several months, and as mentioned could end up as being a bargaining tool come election time.
If this happens to be the case and it is going to contribute to your voting decision then you want to make sure that you have a good understanding of what income splitting is and how it could be of benefit to you.
Basically what it would allow you to do is have the higher income tax payer in the house split his or her income or a portion of it for tax purposes to the lower income earning spouse. This could mean that a lower rate of tax is then paid on the taxable income.
In the meantime there are a lot of other potential tax breaks that you may be able to take advantage of. Why not bring your taxes here to Sam Seidman at Toronto Accountant to see what tax savings he can find for you in regards to your tax obligations.
