Have you ever been frustrated with the tax system?
If the government already has all the information about you, and they have fancy computers, why do regular individuals have to file an income tax every year?
Those were the questions going over and over through Neal Winokur’s head and the more he thought about it the more grumpy he became, and thus he became The Grumpy Accountant.
Who is Neal Winokur?
Neal Winokur, CPA, started his practice in 2013 and his grumpiness has grown ever since. An active blogger, several of his articles have been published in the National Post. Neal feels a moral obligation to speak out against the inherent flaws, unfairness, and needless complexities that define Canadian tax.
Neal Winokur’s dream is for the Canadian tax system to be massively simplified to the point where his job as a tax accountant would no longer exist. His wife won’t be too happy about this, but it’s for the good of the nation.
The Making of a Grumpy Accountant
When Neal Winokur started working as a young, naïve accountant, he was eager, enthusiastic, and excited for the career that lay ahead. Neal Winokur slogged through four years of drudgery to obtain my professional designation. I then spent the next seven years, at the time of this writing, running my own accounting practice.
I have filed countless tax returns throughout the course of my work. During this time, I have become increasingly frustrated as I came to understand how complicated and inefficient our tax system is.
I have seen how honest, hard-working people get ensnared in the maze of an uncompassionate and faceless bureaucracy. Canadians spend approximately $7 billion every year to file their individual income tax returns, averaging $501 per household.
I have seen how maddening and convoluted it can be to deal with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which has an annual budget of $4.3 billion and growing. The CRA employs 40,000 people whereas the Internal Revenue Service of the United States employs 80,000 people even though the population of the United States is 10 times the size of Canada.
Many other countries, such as Spain, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Iceland, have very simple tax systems in which the majority of taxpayers are not required to file a tax return. Ninety percent of taxpayers in England, 87% of taxpayers in Denmark, and 74% of taxpayers in Sweden do not have to file tax returns. In Estonia, it takes the average person five minutes to file their tax return. New Zealand has become the master of tax reform. If all these countries have a straightforward tax system, why don’t we?
My dream is for the tax system to be massively simplified, at least for the majority of taxpayers and especially for those on the lowest end and in the middle of the income spectrum. People should be able to file their own tax returns without the need to purchase software or hire grumpy accountants like me.
Imagine if we could make changes to our tax system that resulted in a revenue-neutral impact to the government, such that government spending could remain at the same levels they are at now. Imagine if the system of collecting individual income tax was streamlined to a point where millions of Canadians could save hundreds of dollars a year on accounting fees, as well as saving them time, stress, and effort involved in filing their tax returns.
Canadians from across the entire political spectrum must rally and work together on this very important issue. Even if Canadians disagree on whether or not we are paying too little or too much tax, we must all agree that the system under which we are obligated to file our tax returns must be made less complex and more efficient.
I wrote this book, because every night I lie awake in bed, unable to fall asleep, thinking about how strange it is that I have a job as a tax accountant. I truly believe it is shameful that my job is necessary.
I can no longer stand idly by while millions of us continue to suffer under this stress-inducing and expensive tax-filing regime. I feel a moral obligation to publicly call on our politicians to massively simplify our tax system as soon as possible.
Until my dream of a straightforward tax system comes true, The Grumpy Accountant will share critical tips on how ordinary Canadians can survive the mess of our tax system. These are based on my experience of seeing the most common pitfalls and tax traps that people fall into.
This book is written in plain, easy-to-read language so every single Canadian can understand. We will see how Jerry, a fictional character symbolizing the average Canadian, experiences the inefficiency of the tax system as a student, an employee, a married man, a parent, an entrepreneur, a retiree, and even as a dead guy as he is taxed beyond the grave. The tax traps, mistakes, and nightmares that Jerry faces are based on real-life, true stories that my clients have experienced. Jerry’s grumpy accountant, George, will be there every step of the way to help him along and propose ideas on how to streamline the system once and for all.
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