Brian you're right .......( a lighter side before the week end)

The exhaustive list found by Dootin is typical of the Canadian Tax System (btw, don't get me started with the American system) - it's designed to encompass all possible ploys that taxpayers may want to apply to minimize tax.

Unfortunately, politicians (lawmakers) will never match wits with its citizens because, in many, if not all sections of our tax act, amendments are required because average Joe Citizen found flaws in the legislation, exploited the flaw, thus creating a need by lawmakers to fill the crack...... Cycle and repeat for many many years, and we arrive to 2010 with volumes of definitions, regulations, IT Bulletins, etc etc so we can "interpret" the essence or spirit of the legislation (such a waste of human time.......).

Back in the 80's in Canada, the Federal Government was beaten up so many times that they deliberately created section 245 GAAR (General Anti Avoidance Rule) - this section of the Income Tax Act (I'll summarize here) is designed to impose a tax, otherwise not paid under the Act, if the intent of the taxpayer is to avoid paying taxes...... (Back then, and today, tax accountants and tax lawyers have a very delicate line between tax planning and tax avoidance....).

Have a great week end...good to see stimulating talk on this forum.......

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