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?

Canadian homeowners may not yet have caught up with the new rules around anti-flipping when they buy and sell their principal residences.  CRA has not only tightened the reporting rules, but now can deny the tax exempt treatment if the personal residence is not held for 365 consecutive days.  Some exceptions do apply.  So let’s take a look at the rules that should be discussed with all home owners and potential home owners:

Real Wealth Management is the accumulation, growth, preservation and transition of wealth after taxation, inflation and fees.  Seldom has an economic environment been more conducive to this approach with the threat of tariffs, significant tax change and numerous interest/inflation fluctuations.    Fortunately, tax season, which official begins for filing of T1s on February 24, can provide some cash flow relief.  Here are some things to consider.

Diane Colton, Business Services Specialist, FDFS™, Knowledge Bureau VIP graduate, designate, esteemed Fellow of Distinguished Financial Services and owner of Mobility Tax has been selected to receive the King Charles III Coronation Medal from the Governor General of Canada.

The Recorded Sessions of this High Value Webinar are now available featuring in depth instruction from tax experts Evelyn Jacks, Kim Moody and Ruth Horst.  Don’t miss this important opportunity to decipher the Capital Gains chaos for your clients, family and community. File T1 returns with the new Schedule 3 with confidence – train rooking staff members, too. Plus, there’s still time to enrol in our upcoming CE Savvy™ Mini Summit live-virtual events. On February 19 we will focus on Families and Their Real Estate and on February 26 Small Business Returns.

Join Evelyn Jacks and special guests for a weekly podcast delivering real tax news people need to know.  It’s been quite the journey for taxpayers who own assets like cottages and businesses.  In this first episode of Real Tax News: “Capital Gains Chaos Gets a Reprieve” featuring Geoff Currier, find out the latest PLUS the Definition of True Wealth.

As we all know, it’s been a roller coaster week in tariff news. The Canadian dollar started to sink, although not to its lowest historical level-yet. The 30 day pause in implementation of the U.S. tariffs has provided a wake up call: What effect will such a Black Swan event have on portfolios and, by extension, retirement plans?