Tips for Filing Tax Returns in Canada

Just when you thought you were off the hook it is time to send in your Tax Returns to the Federal Government. Yes you have paid taxes on everything from a light bulb to a USB drive all year so why more?

Someone has to pay for the 1.7 million Canadian bureaucrats, their health care, their days off and their pensions. Can you remember the last time you called the Canadian government and talked to someone in Canada's two official languages French and English? You will have a better chance by calling from 7 a.m. ET to 3 p.m Pacific Time. I am not suggesting you call ET although you would have more fun trying. ET is Eastern Time plus 30 minutes in Newfoundland.

Electronic Filing via Internet

It is the fastest method to get it over with quickly. Faster when you have an online account with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Someone told me a few days ago there are more than 3 billion people using the Internet. Yet 20% of the highly Canadian techno savvy population know how to set up an account with CRA. Your account gives you a way to get all of your T slips or reassess an Income Tax Return. Plus look over information regarding CPP, OAS and other benefits. Factually speaking they are not benefits since the money comes from your contributions to various plans such as an RRSP. Hyperlinks above will take you to the CRA website where you can set up your account.

Deadline to Remember

Canada Revenue Agency set April 30, 2017 as deadline for filing your 2016 tax return. Your employer has until the end of February to hand over T slips. If you worked more than one job then call the employer(s) for the T-4 slip(s). There are several billion dollars of unclaimed amounts being held by CRA due to people not filing an Income Tax Return. Last year I completed a return for a 30-year-old who had not filed in 6 years. He was delightfully silly when the money owed to him arrived. If you had deductions, and most do have them, file your Return. It is your money.

Ways to File and Income Tax Return

Electronic filing with CRA approved software is the best method ever. Here is a list of the software approved to date. Some are free for low-income earners below $30,000.00 for a single person and $45,000.00 for a couple. My non-sponsored recommendation for those who have a simple return is UFile 2016. It should be called Income Tax for Dummies because it is so easy to use. (Place name here ... Address here...)

Many other software programs are listed and some require more computer skills. Often times you can also get a discount via the CRA website from the software developer.

Paper Filing

Paper tax returns can be found around the Post Office or Federal government locations such as Service Canada and CRA of course. You require pencils, pencil sharper, paper and lots of patience. The paper manual included with the kit will give your brain a good workout. Last time I had to use paper returns was for a lovely lady who failed to do any tax returns during the previous ten years.

Community Volunteer Income Tax Program

It was initially started in Quebec and Ontario to find out if there was a need for a volunteer program. They were swamped and CVTIP became a national way for Canadians on low incomes to have their taxes prepared and filed with CRA. The low-income markers are slightly different from one volunteer group to another. The CRA guideline is $35,000.00 per individual and $45,000.00 per couple. CVITP does not include those with T-5 financial resources over the amounts stated nor self-employed persons.

The volunteers across Canada assisted people on low incomes by preparing and filed close to 750,000 Income Tax Returns in 2016. We expect a sharp increase this year. Look over this link to find a volunteer group in your town or city. Bring your T slips and make an appointment where it is applicable. Every person involved goes through a clearance process with CRA and police clearance. A copy of the return is printed for you and none of the volunteers or local groups keep your returns on file. If you require a special need or assistance with language ask before you arrive.

A Few Additional Notes

Anyone collecting a pension, a disability allowance or additional funding must file an income tax return. If you do not file a return your pension or any funding will be cut off in July. This includes GST rebates from July onward until the return if filed.

Seniors will only receive the CPP amount when the return is not filed by the April deadline. Let us pretend you are receiving $1600.00 a month pension plus the other allowances. Those allowances are the part of the pension you will not receive after July. Your July pension will be reduced to $400.00 +/- a month. I have volunteered doing taxes for a few decades and it is heart breaking to see a 80-year-old in tears. For those reading this please do whatever is possible to ensure the elders in your family get their returns done on time. Provincial benefits as low as they are will also stop.

The current Federal government has introduced some of what they call poverty reduction into tax system. As I see it through the tax returns it is more than likely going to toss a few 100 thousand people out of their homes. This poverty reduction tax plan has a gaping hole in it someone forgot to research.

Most housing subsidy programs in Canada ask for the amount on Line 150 or Line 236 of your income tax form when applying. Line 150 is your total income and includes any current subsidies and Line 236 is the adjusted amount. These two lines are usually the same amount of dollars. The Federal government is going to increase the amounts on Line 150 and thus Line 236. It will put low-income earners in a higher artificial income bracket and disallow them Local or Provincial Housing assistance.

They claim there will be a decrease in poverty. It will be followed up by a massive increase in homelessness. It is more akin to a double negative balance found in most oligarchies.

Fraudulent Emails and Phone Calls

Best to put a hyperlink to the lastest scams being used in Canada. A few minutes of your time will make you aware of scams via phone, text messages, email, online and telemarketing.

Global Currency Fairness and US Policies

Until the mid-twentieth century, the gold standard was the dominant monetary system, based on a fixed quantity of gold reserves stocked in national banks, which limited lending. At that time, the United States managed to become the owner of 70% of world’s gold reserves (excluding the USSR), therefore it pushed its weakened competitor, the UK, aside resulting to the creation of the Bretton Woods financial system in 1944. That’s how the US dollar became the predominant currency for international payments.

But a quarter century later this system had proven ineffective due to its inability to contain the economic growth of Germany and Japan, along with the reluctance of the US to adjust its economic policies to maintain the dollar-gold balance. At that time, the dollar experienced a dramatic decline but it was saved by the support of rich oil exporters, especially once Saudi Arabia began to exchange its black gold for US weapons and support in talks with Richard Nixon.

President Richard Nixon in 1971 unilaterally ordered the cancellation of the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold, and instead he established the Jamaican currency system in which oil has become the foundation of the US dollar system. Therefore, it’s no coincidence that from that moment on the control over oil trade has become the number one priority of Washington’s foreign policy. In the aftermath of the so-called Nixon Shock the number of US military engagements in the Middle East and other oil producing regions saw a sharp increase. Once this system was supported by OPEC members, the global demand for US petrodollars hit an all time high. Petrodollars became the basis for America domination over the global financial system which resulted in countries being forced to buy dollars in order to get oil on the international market.

Analysts believe that the share of the United States in today’s world gross domestic product shouldn’t exceed 22%. However, 80% of international payments are made with US dollars. The value of the US dollar is exceedingly high in comparison with other currencies. That’s why consumers in the United States receive imported goods at extremely low prices. It provides the United States with significant financial profit, while high demand for dollars in the world allows the US government to refinance its debt at very low interest rates.

Under these circumstances, those hedging against the dollar are considered a direct threat, to US economic hegemony and the high living standards of its citizens. Therefore political and business circles in Washington attempt by all means to resist this process.

This resistance manifested itself in the overthrow and the brutal murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who decided to switch to Euros for oil payments, before introducing a gold dinar to replace the European currency.

Despite Washington’s desire to use whatever means to sustain its position within the international arena, US policies, are increasingly faced with opposition. A growing number of countries are trying to move from the US dollar along with its dependence on the United States, by pursuing a policy of de-dollarization. Three nations active in this domain are China, Russia and Iran. These countries are trying to achieve de-dollarization at a record pace, along with some European banks and energy companies that are operating within their borders.



The Russian government held a meeting on de-dollarization in spring of 2014, where the Ministry of Finance, announced the plan to increase the share of ruble-denominated contracts and the consequent abandonment of dollar exchange.

Last May at the Shanghai summit, the Russian delegation manged to sign the so-called deal of the century which implies that over the next 30 years China will buy $ 400 billion worth of Russia’s natural gas while paying in Rubles and Yuan. In addition, in August 2014 a subsidiary company of Gazprom announced its readiness to accept payment for 80,000 tons of oil from Arctic deposits in Rubles that were to be shipped to Europe.

Payment for the supply of oil through the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean pipeline can be transferred in the Yuan. Last August while visiting the Crimea, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced that the petrodollar system should become history while Russia is discussing the use of national currencies in mutual settlements with a number of countries.

These steps recently taken by Russia are the reason behind the West’s sanction policy. (Ukraine and Crimea are a cover story hiding the facts)

There is little to no hope, the United States will survive its own wave of chaos, as it continues to lash out across the world. (with allies such as Canada, headed by millionaire PM Justin Trudeau,  you will hear more about foreign affairs than domestic problems)


Read More at Source: The Global De-dollarization and the US Policies | New Eastern Outlook

Blame Game: Look in the Mirror

It is apparent you absolutely needed the newest mobile device. You needed the newest TV, computer, DVD, printer, camera all made with petroleum by-products. You had to have an endless list of new merchandise made with and wrapped in chemical by-products. This is the fatal mistake in every industrialized country.

Pipelines were built by placing millions of kilometers of them entering every house and building. Our cities removed the forests nature uses to clean the air, and replaced them asphalt, another oil by-product. Concrete, rather than trees, became the norm for parks with paved pedestrian pathways.

Forests were removed to get the last drop of sunshine trapped in the ground using hydraulic fracking. 1000s of chemicals are used to soak up drops of natural gas polluting the ground water aquifers. When the industrialized counties wanted more they invaded other countries to rob them of every non-renewable resource.

Landfill waste dumps filled up with recyclable products no longer needed. Pulp and paper industries cut down the last tree and closed the plant leaving behind their toxic chemicals. Our lakes and rivers are used as toilets for industrial and domestic waste. We took every mineral from the Earth and poisoned countless hectares with arsenic and other chemicals.

Mountain ranges took nature billions of years to form. They are no challenge to our machinery. We removed the forests, mountains and rivers to dig out coal used for our increased electrical usage. Crushed rock, the remains of the mountains, are dumped into the giant holes leaving small mounds in their place. Once ice-cold rivers, head waters to quench your thirst, were reduced to tiny creeks of lukewarm water. Horses by the hundreds, stand knee deep in shit, as it drains into the same creeks. The owners call themselves trail riders although the natural trails disappeared decades ago. You can happily pay them 12 dollars a night, to smell the stench, while camping next to an RV fully equipped with every noise maker possible.

With 7 billion people on the planet it is an absolute right to own several gas guzzling automobiles. Approximately 20% of the population own over 1 billion wide ranging autos. The green people want to have electric cars with the electricity produced by coal, gas or oil. That kind of thinking is done while sitting on the toilet flushing sewage into the oceans. (It's a flourishing business as long as you hit the donate button when you arrive at their websites.)

In every industrialized country we point the blame at the governments we elected or the corporations. (most countries have elections even though big media rarely mention it) Governments know promises can be made and never kept. Corporations make products you believe you must have to keep face with friends and neighbors. Besides it's better to plug your ears, turn your hat backwards, pull up a hoodie than listen to anyone. Good paying jobs have dropped, in the so-called democratic nations, in proportion to the damage done to nature.

The Secret

Of all the renewable resources for energy solar power is the only true source. All the others such as wind and water use massive amounts of non-renewable resources for construction and maintenance. Consider yourself lucky if you know where the Sun goes when it sets or clouds cover the sky.

We count on slave labor to ship us products to fill the hunger for material goods. Industrialized countries no longer have the ability to create a simple light bulb or pen. The best we can do is pour coffee, purchased from another country for pennies, with a 1000% mark up from the purchase cost. Hemp does not need to be imported. It is a renewable resource and can be used to replace plastic while creating employment.

The much-loved Joni Mitchell born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada was right:

"They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot"

I know because I have watched and written about it since the 1970s. My impact is so low it barely registers. Those of us who told you never did so for fortune and fame. Perhaps we should have set up a foundation, to rob you of your money while proclaiming we are scientists, without ever attending a University for a PhD.

Are you a Tourist or a Visitor?

As you toss away a generation of people, who are educated world travelers here are a few words, from one of our musical influences The Moody Blues.

"Ask the mirror on the wall
Who's the biggest fool of all,
Bet you feel small,
It happens to us all.

Look at progress,
Then count the cost,
We'll spoil the seas
With the rivers we've lost..."

Moody Blues lyrics 1971

Would someone come up with a solution to the nuclear waste scattered around the planet? Whoever decided to mess with nature by splitting the Atom has the responsibility for cleaning up your creation. You are not allowed to bury it, dump it into the water or blast it into outer space.

 

 

 

Anti-Russia Propaganda's New Buzzword

When western media makes up stories about Russia, it's no big deal. When Russian media get things wrong, it's hybrid war.

Last week, British state-controlled TV created hysteria with a documentary about a putative Russian invasion of Latvia. As usual, while the Latvians were miffed, nobody west of Kaliningrad had any difficulty with it. They were more concerned with the segment that showed the UK being nuked.

Thus, we again discover that the Western establishment believes it has a monopoly on truth. That only its narrative is worthy and anything that challenges the consensus is disinformation.

If Evelyn Waugh were around today he wouldn't need to invent William Boot. Too many living, breathing, equivalents have passed through Ukraine and Turkey (the base for Syria coverage) in the past two years.  By the same token, George Orwell's Winston Smith seems tame compared to agitprop practitioners of today. A certain cabal in the pro-NATO realm has decided that cynicism is somehow unique to Russia. Bewilderingly, their exclusive focus on Russia invalidates much of this enterprise. They are blind to it in their own back yards.

For those of us who follow media, the last week has been truly instructive. An independent French journalist, Paul Moreira, decided to challenge the pro-Maidan group-think in the popular press. As it happens, not one fact in his documentary was noticeably erroneous.

The show was nicely timed as the British government is currently trying to force a £100 billion ($144 billion) upgrade of their Trident nuclear deterrent through parliament. The opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, contends that the money might be better spent elsewhere. This is hardly surprising, given that the UK is forecast to run a £69.5 billion budget deficit in the year to April 2016. In addition, over one million Brits currently rely on free food-banks to survive.

Entire article here: ‘Hybrid Warfare’: Anti-Russia propaganda finds a new buzzword — RT Op-Edge