Very rich to see tax hike

OTTAWA—Canadians will have a little more room to contribute to their Tax Free Savings Accounts as the calendar flips over, but they’ll have to wait until the federal budget to see if there will be any more new savings on their taxes.
“Typically when there are new deductions, they announce them in the budget and you get them in that year,” said Jason Safar, a tax partner at PwC.

“If it is good news, they want to get it out,” he noted.
“And if it is bad news and you announce it, you might as well implement it because people are angry about it anyway.”
And with the federal and provincial governments in deficit slaying mode, Safar said don’t get your hopes up for big moves come budget day.
“I haven’t heard any rumblings of any significant changes,” he remarked.
For the very wealthy in Ontario, though, the new year brings bad news from the tax man—the top rate for the biggest earners in the province will creep a little higher for those earning more than $500,000.
Jeff Paisley, a senior manager at Deloitte, said those earning more than $500,000 a year saw the top combined federal-provincial marginal rate increase to 47.97 percent from 46.41 this year.
The rate goes up again on Jan. 1 to 49.53 percent, he said.
“So, that’s a bit of an increase,” Paisely remarked.
“Does the average Canadian get hit by this? I wouldn’t say so.”