Canada is a great country, and that is why we often come up at the top of the list of nations when ranked by the world community. Some of us actually didn't mind paying high taxes when the roads were great and the health care system acutally worked.

But the biggest problem Canadians face is trying to build wealth. Wealth is very difficult to accumulate when roughly half of one's income is eaten away by taxes, and the other half is consumed by daily living (food, mortgages/rent, clothing, vacations, education for the kids, entertainment, etc.).

Wealth can actually be legally accumulated in Canada for oneself and one's family if one uses legal tax reduction techniques-there aren't many around, but there are still a few that are widely used by many of Canada's very wealthy families. The wealthy in Canada and in most countries, know the value of using tax experts to help them reduce their current income taxes and estate taxes. Despite this evidence, most Canadians focus on building wealth by looking for attractive investment returns and ignoring the tax reduction strategies available ( often at no greater cost). The wealthy focus on on after tax returns and the average Canadian is only concerned about gross returns. 

If you are in a 46% marginal tax bracket, you are in essence sharing 46% of your net income with Canada Revenue Services.  This in essence is a partnership with the Governement of Canada, except that you put up all the capital and you take all the risk. How does this sound as a partnership agreement? If you think this stinks, I agree. Why then do you think that 99% of Canadians blindly follow this strategy year after year and obviously don't have a prolem giving up their hard earned money? Defies all logic in my mind yet this is the Canadian way.

The point is that the easiest money to make is to legally defer or avoid income taxes(i.e. personal, corporate, captial, trust etc). It is a lot easier to make 46% by avoiding income taxes than it is to make 15%, 20% or more on an investment which bears risk and cost of capital.

There are many legal tax reduction  strategies available in Canada. Their suitability depends on the needs of the individual or corporate taxpayer. A brief meeting with a qualified tax professional will usually determine whether one or more of these strategies fits their requirements. As a tax professioanl, I spend most of our intereview time ascertaining the true fit and comfort level of the recommended strategy(s).