The Importance of Provincial Budgets: Elbows Up and No Bracket Creep!

Some of the right things are happening in Nova Scotia, from the perspective of improving standards of living in that province.  And that’s important news because according to the Fraser Institute, Canadians have suffered the worst five-year decline in their standard of living over the 2020-to-2024 period since the Great Depression.  It notes, our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person decreased by 2.0% (0.4% annually) ; this despite aggregate GDP growth of 1.5% over the period.  Further, all ten provinces are experiencing stagnation, which is unique in our history.  So what’s the good news in Nova Scotia, at this critical juncture?

There are over 28 million tax filers and two-thirds of them pay income taxes, on average at a rate of 16% of total income. The vast majority of those taxes - 70% in fact - come from employees, whose earnings are subject to tax withholdings with every paycheque.

According to Industry Canada, as of December 2012, there were nearly 1.2 million small businesses in Canada (businesses with at least one employee on payroll). But many don’t make it—even though they were profitable at the time of closure. Tax and business services specialists can help these businesses survive.

After an eventful two weeks in global politics and economics, the theme for the 2017 Distinguished Advisor Conference (DAC) appears to be squarely on point: Financial Advice at the Crossroads of Change.

If your goal is to shore up your corporate tax preparation knowledge on preparing returns for professional corporations, you will want to enrol in this new online certificate course from Knowledge Bureau, which has a special focus on the needs of clients who are financial advisors and medical practitioners.

Knowledge Bureau’s Distinguished Advisor Workshop series for January 2017, focused on advanced personal tax update finished in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 25th.  The team at Knowledge Bureau would like to extend our gratitude to all our students who attended - your participation makes this a success.

Confidence in Knowledge Leads to Expansion:  Joey LeBlanc, DFA - Tax Services Specialist™