There are better ways.

Let’s follow up a little on taxes. Of course they’re too high in Canada, but get used to it. As I wrote yesterday, there’s worse ahead.

• The HST is coming for 16 million of us in July.

• I see no alternative to an increase in the GST rate, back to 6% or beyond within the next three years.

• RRSPs could be fine-tuned, eliminating the carry-forward of unused room and turning the deduction into a credit (which would halve the tax break for wealthier contributors).

• RRIF payout amounts could be accelerated, forcing retirees to deconstruct their tax shelters sooner.

• The age for contributing to an RRSP could be dropped again to 69, maybe on its way to 65.

• The Canada Savings Education Grant could be sliced from RESPs, or eliminated for families with incomes over $75,000.

• TFSAs were tightened once, and that could happen again. The things are just too good.

• The age for receiving CPP and OAS could be moved up to 67, as it has been in the US, and then as high as 70.

• The capital gains threshold could be moved from 50% to 60%, boosting the tax take on stocks, mutual funds, gold bars and commercial real estate.

• And speaking of property, the total tax exemption on profits made from residential real estate can be modified. A modest tax of 20% or 25% would help cool speculation, after all.

Any of these things are on the table. Some of them will likely happen. Not immediately, of course (except for the HST grab), but over the next three to five years I fully expect there to be ‘emergency’ and ‘temporary’ revenue-raising measures put into place by a federal government sinking fast.

After all, what are the options? The deficit three years ago was zero. Now it’s $56 billion. The national debt five years was sinking. Now it’s surging. The independent Parliamentary Budget Officer is forecasting massive deficits for the next decade, and in five years the number of people with their hands out for public pensions goes through the roof. Virtually every province is in hock. So where’s the money going to come from?

Taxing employment income is a non-starter since that trashes disposable income, hurts an economy which is 60% dependent on consumers and kills jobs. That’s why taxing real estate and retired people, for example, is far more convenient. And taxing consumption rather than wages is much easier politically. Once a sales tax is in place, the thing turns into a money machine.

If you’re not working at legal tax avoidance, you’re not paying attention.

More Canadians should stop flailing around seeking silver bullets (Yaletown condos, gold bars, 3xETFs) and look over their shoulders.

It’s gaining on ya.