You Pay Tax on Money You Never Get | How Hutterites Handle Money

Last April I filled in a tax return for a man on this colony. The figure on it was his income for the year. He received none of it — not into a hand, not into an account, because there is no account. He paid the tax on it anyway. He is required to. And the law that requires it was not an accident. It was written for us, deliberately, in 1977, and it is still in the statute book. I am the man on this colony whose job it is to make it work. I keep the books here. I have negotiated with bankers and signed for machinery that cost more than a house in town, and I have never in my life been paid for an hour of work. This is what a Hutterite actually owns, what he is taxed on, and what he walks out with if he ever leaves. My name is Andreas Wurz. — At the end of this one I ask you something about a book I have been thinking about writing. I have not written it. I am asking first. Tell me in the comments whether you think it is a reasonable thing to do, and say so plainly if you think it is not. My wife Eva has her own channel, where she tells the same colony from inside the kitchen. Her video on the cloth ration explains something this one does not: what happens when there is no money and the thing being divided is fabric. SOURCES Section 143 of the Income Tax Act, the four conditions, the deemed trust, the allocation to families, the definition of an adult at eighteen and the example of a household counting as three families — Canada Revenue Agency, Information Circular IC78-5, "Communal Organizations." https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/ic78-5/communal-organizations.html The figure that roughly three quarters of Hutterite members filing returns show taxable income under $25,000, the point about income earned before eighteen, the absence of RRSP deductions, charitable donations before 1993, and the 2014 decision on the working income benefit — The Western Producer, "Yes, Hutterites do pay taxes," reporting a submission made to a Senate committee. https://www.producer.com/news/yes-hutterites-do-pay-taxes/ The exemption for members of religious sects from contributing to the Canada Pension Plan, its three conditions, and the rule that the choice may be made once in a lifetime — Canada Revenue Agency, "Canada Pension Plan — members of religious sects." https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/canada-pension-plan-cpp-employment-insurance-ei-rulings/cpp-ei-explained/canada-pension-plan-members-religious-sects.html The monthly allowance for personal effects, and Aagnutz / Eigennutz as the word for earning personal spending money — Hutterites.org, Frequently Asked Questions. https://hutterites.org/day-to-day/faqs/ Colonies farming between three thousand and twelve thousand acres, and colonies producing ten, twenty and thirty per cent of a state or province's hogs, eggs or turkeys — Hutterites.org, Livelihood. https://hutterites.org/day-to-day/livelihood/ A NOTE ON HONESTY I say this in the video and I will repeat it here. The arguments about the tax system working against us come from a submission written by an accounting firm that is paid by colonies. I have read it and I believe it is accurate. I am not in a position to audit it and neither are you, and I would rather tell you that than pretend I am neutral about my own household's money. I have also deliberately not given a figure for the monthly allowance. It differs on every colony and between our three branches, and any number I gave would travel around the internet as "the Hutterite allowance" and be wrong for almost everybody. Next: 1918. I am not putting it off again.