Canadian economy

I’ve mentioned several times that the Canadian economy is stagnant. My belief is even firmer after the few weeks I spent figuring out the tax system. Every percentage rate set at just the right price, to prevent any loop hole, or rather, make any loophole non lucrative to take advantage of.

The Canadian economy has matured piggy backing that of its southern neighbor, learning from their rise and falls. Add this to a stable financial industry where a few giants rooted themselves firmly in place to prevent any aggressive new entrants from eating their pie, you get a very boring and controlled ladder system. It is even more obvious when the most discussed and accepted way of getting rich is through tax deferral of an RRSP account. At 40% average income tax rate with a 15% purchase tax on top of that, 49% of your money goes to the government. RRSP please.

It isn’t surprising then, that none of my investments managed to beat the supposed $2900 CDN that I will be getting back from my tax by combining just the right amount of tax credits to lower my tax bracket.

My desk looks like a mess and I just finished reading the booklet of pure accountant gibberish for general tax and another one twice as thick to complement the different kind of investments I have. Foreign, divident, mutual funds, RRSP, GIC. What we need, is to get apple to look at this system and make it into a one button software. I’d be more than willing to put half of my income into having that.

Just my ranting after suffering a 10% decrease in net value. But hey, I wished for it, can’t complain right? See more details in my 2007 Q1 report.

In addition, I opened 3 more accounts this quarter for different purposes. 13 in total now.