7 tax tales that should scare anyone at any time of the year
Boo!!! Did I scare you? If not, sit back, take a sip of your favourite beverage and get ready for some spooky tax stories for Halloween.
Halloween has an interesting history dating back hundreds of years. Income tax in Canada doesn’t have quite the same history — dating back to only 1917 — but the first known taxation took place in ancient Egypt around 3000–2800 BC. Technically, Halloween is a youngster compared to taxation.
One of my favourite Halloween stories is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. As a youngster, I recall being freaked out listening to deep-voiced narrators of the story on television. I’m not sure why tax has not had the same appeal for Hollywood writers and producers, but tax can also be very spooky.
Accordingly, in the spirit of the season, I present to you — in a deep voice — Sleepy Hollow: The Canadian Tax Version, which includes some of the country’s spookiest tax scenes of recent years. Don’t get too frightened, but please make sure you read these stories to your kids or other young ones tonight … it’s important they are spooked, too.
The cry for the rich to pay more: This spooky story keeps being told by lefties who feel like the so-called rich get all the tax breaks. Thankfully, that has long ago been debunked. It would be more intellectually honest for the people who tell this tale to state that they want the rich to pay the tax. Crazy, sure. But at least the story wouldn’t be misleading.
Scary real estate taxation measures: I’ve recited this spooky story many times, but it continues to get more frightening. From a ban on owning residential real estate by foreigners, the underused housing tax aimed at foreigners, the silly “flipping tax,” the ridiculous ban on deduction of expenses for certain
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