Taxation and the middle class

[danbrotherston]

Um,  you are off base.  My wife and I purchased a couple of condo units that we rent out.  This was done as retirement investment for her as she does not have a pension plan through work.  We are by no means wealthy.  We live in a semi, we made choices to not keep buying up on our residence in lieu of purchasing investment properties for her future.  I know many people that have done this.  The only people that are going to be hurt by this is the people like myself.  People who own many condos units for rent have them owned under a corporation.  Therefore they don't pay tax in the same manner, they will be just fine and unaffected by this tax grab.

Corporate inclusion rate also goes to 66%, with no exemption. And people earning income through working have a 100% inclusion rate, so I think 66% inclusion after $250K of capital gains is not so onerous, whether you are investing in stocks or real estate.

You can certainly mitigate the impact if you hold the real estate jointly as you will only claim 50% each. A $500K total gain on a condo or a house would still have only $250K of it taxable; a $800K gain (for example) would result in a slightly higher inclusion rate of 56%. Not onerous--that's the inclusion rate, not the ultimate tax rate--and arguably fair in the bigger picture. You just need to do your tax planning, hold the properties jointly and not sell more than one in any given year.

Lol...leaving aside the tax esoterica, the idea that a person who owns three properties is "by no means wealthy" is just silly. Are they Bill Gates, no. Are they wealthier than the average? Obviously. Are they in the top quartile. Also almost certainly so. Are they in the top 10%, likely. Are they in the top 1%...iffy...

So yeah, I don't know why people are so unwilling to admit their wealth?