Recently good ol’ Jim picked out his new shoes for the 2010 budget. As you may well know, our tax payer money pays for the Finance Minister’s new shoes… it’s tradition. One year (2006) our British Columbian finance minister Carol Taylor picked out a nice pair of $600 GUCCI shoes but that was when we were all flush with cash and BEFORE the depression recession, I suppose. But I digress.
The Canadian Federal 2010 Budget was underwhelming, to say the least. Canadians were very hopeful for an extension to the popular Renovation Tax Credit, but they didn’t give it to us. Our national deficit is $53.8 Biilllliioooon dollars (insert Austin Powers impression here). They decided to cut corporate taxes some more to make Canada a foreign-investor friendly place. Nothing really changed that would affect the average Canadian, it seems.
Except if you are the average Canadian who is into cosmetic surgery! Jim Flaherty closed the loophole that would allow people to claim their Botox injections, breast augmentation, nose jobs, teeth whitening and liposuction surgeries as medical expenses. Jim didn’t even give those people a chance to ‘Botox till you drop’ until the new rules kick in, because the new rules kicked in the day the budget was announced. This is supposed to save the government $40 million dollars because people in the past could claim for a 15% tax credit if the medical expenses exceed 3% of your net income or $2024 (whichever is less).
What do you think about this? I have never done any cosmetic augmentation and don’t think I ever will, but I guess if anyone did, it would be nice to get some cash-back from the government, way to milk the system, right? My American friends, does your tax system allow you to deduct the costs of cosmetic or medical procedures?
I love blogging about Jim Flaherty, our Canadian Finance Minister. You can now follow him on twitter! @FinanceCanada LOL the GOVERNMENT is even using social media. Is that a good thing or is it slightly disturbing?
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