Making the best of inflation

Government taxes what it creates. Here are some strategies for making the best of it

Making capital gains is the essence of investing. Yet many gains are nothing of the sort. They are only the illusory repricing of goods and incomes. Government drives inflation, then taxes stocks and bonds, incomes, house prices and even farms that are part of the repricing. If you think that this is unjust, you’re right. […] Read more

farm

Untangling the farm tax knots

For a two-generation family actively farming a big spread, transition poses tax issues

In southwestern Manitoba, a couple we’ll call Phil, 63, and Mary, 58, have farmed grain for the last four decades. For Phil, the farm is a continuation of a family tradition with his parents and his brother. For 40 years, they have plowed all profits back into the farm. Today, they farm 4,000 acres they […] Read more


Slash your tax bill by transferring the farm

Slash your tax bill by transferring the farm

Resigned to quit, a farming couple makes a plan 
to slash taxes and hand the operation to their children

In south central Manitoba, a couple we’ll call Harry and Marge, 81 and 73, are tackling the problem of transferring their 1,760 acre farm, mostly pasture, and their 120 cattle, to their children who we’ll call Bob, 46, and Cathy, 42. Harry and Marge know they have to give up control sooner or later, given […] Read more