Revolutionary Moderation

Two-point conversion

For the taxation change to income trusts, Jim Flaherty earned two solid points in my book.

First, that he did it at all was a solid point. That's a billion dollars in tax revenue that the government was losing to generally wealthier Canadians (certainly, wealthy enough to have the advice of lawyers and accountants) who least need tax breaks. Don't let an opposition parade of impoverished seniors who lost value on their income trusts today fool you. There's much more this federal government could do for seniors with a billion dollars a year than this tax loophole was doing for those seniors.

Second, and nearly as importantly, the change came silently and while the markets were closed, thereby earning some mad props from this page. After the random leaky/guessy nonsense in the leadup to the last rumoured change to income trusts, it's refreshing to see a Minister of Finance who knows how to make changes to tax laws like this with the speed and guile of a thief in the night. That's some serious Ministerin' of Finances, right there.