It was twenty years ago. Since then I have painted a lot of rooms, tiled a lot of floors and backsplashes, replaced a lot of bathroom vanities, cut down 60 foot cypress and pine trees and god knows what else. Saved hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last 25 years while also allowing me to stretch for better opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford at the time. I saved $6000 tiling my 400sqft screen porch myself two years ago. I would have to earn +$10k to net that $6k - not a bad side hustle for a couple of evenings and a weekend. Used that savings to validate buying a pinball machine. Sweat equity is a valuable, tax advantaged lifetime opportunity to build wealth. Might cut into your Call of Duty time but that is the price you pay for success.
What was your marginal rate? C'mon I thought you were a smarter than everyone else tax pro - why do you think your effective rate is relevant to this discussion? If you earn $120k your federal marginal rate was 26% and your provincial rate was 11.16% for a 37.16% combined marginal rate for example. Do you then have another 5.95% CPP tax? Is that applied to both employee and employer for a 11.9% total? That would put your true marginal tax cost darn close to 50%.
Tax rates and income brackets for individuals - Canada.ca
CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions – Calculate payroll deductions and contributions - Canada.ca
That's too bad the hard working JV folks will do all the work while an accountant and attorney steal equity for five minutes of work. I do a lot of my own contracts, AI making it easier than ever and most are boilerplate anyway. Sold many places without a realtor, half a dozen business deals directly negotiated with the worst one utilizing "professionals" to facilitate (more like agitate). 30 year fixed 2.875% on my primary residence, 3.45% ten year interest on my primary office, 3.625% 30 year fixed on my beach house, Prime minus 1% on my massive HELOC line that provides liquidity for cash closing on new opportunities in a second office location and buying a neighboring beach lot later in the year (that I re-built their boardwalk this spring to secure the beach access the were at risk of losing). Just like anything else, stop trying to time the market and go find good value with avenues for building equity in any market.
