An Interesting Tax Ruling!

[Ken MacDonald]

Could it be applied to chess in some way, e.g., donating trips to our Olympiad teams, or ????


http://www.financialpost.com/news-se...748/story.html

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: An Interesting Tax Ruling!

Could it be applied to chess in some way, e.g., donating trips to our Olympiad teams, or ????

http://www.financialpost.com/news-se...748/story.html

WAC Bennett made an ! move all those decades ago when he put a tax on the grocery stamp-book. As I recall, that tedious chapter in BC history disappeared almost overnight. The world would be a better place without affinity programs, where the lowly citizen is bribed with his or her own money.

But with that genie long out of the bottle, the ruling brought a smile to my face. IANAL, but ... especially the part where the miles are valued at the amazing rate of 3 cents per mile. That's like asking what is the value of a bottle of ginger ale, and not accepting the 98 cents it might cost in a grocery store, but the $20 it might cost by the side of a taxi dancer at a clip joint. Last time I looked, years ago, a reasonable value for an air mile was 1 to 1.5 cents. With the artificiality of the currency foremost in the mind, that must be a kind of upper limit. 1 cent x 75,000 miles = $750, a reasonable approximation of a minor but international one-way trip at short notice. The article didn't mention what the judge's response was to the valuation question when the federal lawyers brought it up, or even if they brought it up.

With regard to chess, the 2007 Canadian Open used aeroplan miles. Last time I looked, if ordinary mortals such as I wanted to assign miles to a non- family member, there were hurdles. But from what I understand, the status (super thorium executive or whatever) of the 2007 donor allowed him to transfer miles without any hit. I suppose it's not relevant to this conversation, but even though the aeroplan reservation was made at the beginning of February for flights at the end of June, all the good flights were already spoken for, in aeroplan availability. I ended up making a stop in Calgary, which was a good thing, but even then I had to take a midnight flight to Ottawa via Toronto, which was not a good thing. Air Canada's sub-minimal staffing levels and the consequent wait for luggage in an almost-deserted airport did not help my mood. We joked that Air Canada must receive kickbacks from the Ottawa Airport parking people, who charge a staggering rate. It's difficult to predict how an air journey will affect one, but I've taken a 36-hour goose chase that left me in better shape. Or it could have been the change in humidity! Didn't have a problem in the drier and cooler North Bay, Kapuskasing or Morelia, after travel of a similar distance.

If an individual accrues personal miles through employment, do the feds value the miles at 3 cents as a taxable benefit? If they do, that would put a chill into at least one affinity program. Not questioning the 3 cents might be a sly move on the part of National Revenue (or whatever they're called this week) 's lawyers.

Anyway, if I could donate miles to the CFC and receive a tax receipt at 3 cents per mile donated, I'd be delighted to do so. Good find, Ken! I suspect, however, that matters will not be so simple.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: An Interesting Tax Ruling!

I ended up making a stop in Calgary, which was a good thing, but even then I had to take a midnight flight to Ottawa via Toronto, which was not a good thing. Air Canada's sub-minimal staffing levels and the consequent wait for luggage in an almost-deserted airport did not help my mood. We joked that Air Canada must receive kickbacks from the Ottawa Airport parking people, who charge a staggering rate. It's difficult to predict how an air journey will affect one, but I've taken a 36-hour goose chase that left me in better shape.

Ouch! I was hoping I could sell my Air Canada shares and clean up before all this kind of "unfair" publicity came up. :)

The last time I took a "red eye" special, I boarded, fell asleep, and woke up when the plane landed.

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: An Interesting Tax Ruling!

fell asleep, and woke up when the plane landed.

I've rarely been a good airplane sleeper. In this centuries-old poem, The Toper's Apology by Charles Morris (1745-1838), though I'd want to be the narrator, I'm too often the one who "treads the path of care", a worrier.

I find, too, when I stint my glass,
And sit with sober air,
I'm prosed by some dull reasoning ass,
Who treads the path of care;
Or, harder tax'd, I'm forced to bear
Some coxcomb's fribbling strain—
And that I think's a reason fair
To fill my glass again.

I'm working on it; I have mixed genes. My mother was a nervous air traveller. She'd excitedly elbow my father in the ribs: "Deryck, the wings are flapping." He'd already be asleep.