Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: can.general,net.taxes Subject: Re: Cdn RRSP for income averaging Message-ID: <3588@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Sat, 3-Mar-84 20:52:12 EST Article-I.D.: utzoo.3588 Posted: Sat Mar 3 20:52:12 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 3-Mar-84 20:52:12 EST References: <3415@utcsrgv.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 31 Peter Rowley asks: A friend of mine told me that he borrowed money from the bank to buy a $2500 RRSP and then immediately sell it, transferring the income from the '83 tax year to the '84 tax year. This cost about $90. Why should the banks be allowed to make money this way, when it should be trivial to do this sort of ad hoc income averaging on the tax form? Yes, it would be fairer in one sense if you could do this sort of thing on your tax form. But taxes are not *meant* to be fair. The objective of taxation is to extract maximum revenue while minimizing the protests from the peons and the special-interest groups. Fairness is not at all relevant, except insofar as the *appearance* of fairness can deflect some of the outrage from the victims. You are confusing taxation with normal business transactions, which are (more or less, roughly speaking) entered into voluntarily and intended to benefit both parties. Taxation is a legalized version of armed robbery, and should be understood as such. You can't do this sort of averaging because it would result in you paying less tax; no other reason is necessary. The roundabout route through the RRSP is probably accidental and will probably be blocked sooner or later. As to why the banks should be allowed to make money on this: they are doing you a service, are they not? Surely you don't expect them to do it for free. If bank management started acting like philanthropists instead of profit-oriented money-grubbers, the bank stockholders would fire them and install people who know what their job is. (To wit, making money for the stockholders -- that's the way business works, folks. No profits, no stockholders. No stockholders, no capital. No capital, *no bank*.) -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry