Rain

ampfixer
Last week there was a bit of news on the CBC. It seams that Americans are concerned that Canadians that are living in the U.S. much of the time, or earning a part of their income in the U.S., may be avoiding U.S. tax. Both sides of the border will be looking into these types of people and the U.S. wants access to Canadian tax records.
 
This is going to hit entertainers pretty hard. A good friend earns a living touring the U.S. and Canada. At U.S. gigs he has to leave money behind in the form of a withholding tax. He then has to apply for the return of the money after he pays the tax.
 
Free trade, right.

In 2012, IIRC, my wife had to pay taxes in Canada, in Spain, in the US and in Russia because of the tour - we had remained in each place for a significant amount of time, enough for them to want their taxes. And even though we'd merely been in Canada for a few weeks, we still had a residence there, so they claimed all the $ they could.
 
Since we're now residing in the US full time and she's on the American payroll, we only need to worry about US taxes. We're still Canadian citizen and we still have bank accounts there and social security numbers, but that's it. No residence, no insurance, nothing. 
 
But I have no problem understanding how it can impact touring artists. Not to mention that when you don't have a huge operation to back you up with its  team of accountants and lawyers to handle the technicalities for you, you may end up thinking twice before planning a tour across the border.

I've always held that one of the great evils of the tax system is its complexity. Every time I attempt to read government tax literature I end up seeing the red mist. The people who write this stuff are evil beyond words. For the first year I was in business I did all of my taxes and payroll figuring how hard could it be? Just trying to learn the basics made me psychotic. I wanted to hunt down and strangle whomever was responsible for writing the instructions I was reading. And then no matter how much you think you understand it, you still get it wrong. I think I ended up with just over $1000 in fines before I said enough is enough and got an accountant. I can't help but wonder how much healthier and dynamic the economy would be if the powers that be didn't throw so many obstacles and riddles in the path of people who just want to get on and produce. 

Hi,
 
Having been a part of a house with 45k books of Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian literature, has made me a bit slanted towards the paper, and the book. I have yet to come up to the electronic version and most of it ahs to be with the bad eye sight, as with the book I can put it down and then walk away, and then come back. On the Kindle, I have a much harder time finding my way around, specially if the page moved up or down.
 
I suppose I could get used to the Kindle and such, but all in all, for writing purposes, I have not seen the Kindle Books used in too many References, although many of them these days are new, as folks are no longer trying to "publish" these things directly anymore.
 
I actually like that better, but unlike the music business, the "books" will be buried for way too long before anyone finds anything and actually reads it.
 
But, imagine Bapu reading "War and Peace" ... ain't gonna happen! Or Craig reading "Moby Dick".
 
Ciao baby!

I've had to pay Canadian taxes, plus U.S. taxes on money I earned in Canada. Extra paperwork, and ultimately you get screwed by two governments.
 
And now the Canadian government has imposed a new tax to discourage American musicians from going there, or more accurately, to discourage Canadian employers from bringing them in. It's called the Foreign Workers Fee, and it's $275 per musician and crew. This is on top of the $150 per person work permit! If you're a Canadian nightclub owner and you want to hire a 10-piece band with a 4-member crew, it'll cost you an extra $5,950. Maybe not a deal-killer for big acts, but for your average Northwest bar band it means you're going to Montana - again. Not Vancouver.

Moshkiae
Hi,
 
Having been a part of a house with 45k books of Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian literature, has made me a bit slanted towards the paper, and the book. I have yet to come up to the electronic version and most of it ahs to be with the bad eye sight, as with the book I can put it down and then walk away, and then come back. On the Kindle, I have a much harder time finding my way around, specially if the page moved up or down.
 
I suppose I could get used to the Kindle and such, but all in all, for writing purposes, I have not seen the Kindle Books used in too many References, although many of them these days are new, as folks are no longer trying to "publish" these things directly anymore.
 
I actually like that better, but unlike the music business, the "books" will be buried for way too long before anyone finds anything and actually reads it.
 
But, imagine Bapu reading "War and Peace" ... ain't gonna happen! Or Craig reading "Moby Dick".
 
Ciao baby!

Gosh, maybe if they had made your house out of normal building materials and not 45,000 books, you could have read them instead of being slanted Pedro!
 
(Can't talk for Bapu but, when I was younger, I read more than anyone else I knew and that included both War and Peace as well as Moby Dick.)

bitflipper
I've had to pay Canadian taxes, plus U.S. taxes on money I earned in Canada. Extra paperwork, and ultimately you get screwed by two governments.
 
And now the Canadian government has imposed a new tax to discourage American musicians from going there, or more accurately, to discourage Canadian employers from bringing them in. It's called the Foreign Workers Fee, and it's $275 per musician and crew. This is on top of the $150 per person work permit! If you're a Canadian nightclub owner and you want to hire a 10-piece band with a 4-member crew, it'll cost you an extra $5,950. Maybe not a deal-killer for big acts, but for your average Northwest bar band it means you're going to Montana - again. Not Vancouver.

I've heard about this one - I remembered that later last night. Culturally, this is a recipe for disaster. A lot of the best bands I've seen live wouldn't be able to go to Canada w/ this new tax. 

The current Canadian government has a very peculiar take on "arts and culture".

The current Canadian government is FUBAR at all levels. The Toronto mayor drives drunk and smokes crack. If he was a young black kid he'd be in prison. The trend continues up the chain full of liars, pimps and thieves. It's good that we can't have a political thread because I'd likely have a stroke.

ampfixer
The current Canadian government is FUBAR at all levels. The Toronto mayor drives drunk and smokes crack. If he was a young black kid he'd be in prison. The trend continues up the chain full of liars, pimps and thieves. It's good that we can't have a political thread because I'd likely have a stroke.

Well, considering how polite we are, I'm sure we could have a nice Canadian thread. :P

 
 

Call me Ishmael. Dimwit.

Plus...here's a recent Craig's list posting: For sale...baby shoes...never worn.

You see, I've got "wise blood".

Plus, I've actually seen "Gravity's Rainbow".

And, no, it was not a "dark and stormy night".