padpowell@wateng.UUCP (PAD Powell[Admin]) (10/06/83)
Lately, the Revenue Canada (Income Tax to you) has decided that artists works
are liable to taxation under the same rules as small business. Briefly,
and somewhat inaccurately, if an artist paints a picture, then it has a
value, and hence (according to them), he has to pay tax on the apparent
CAPITAL GAIN!!!
According to a warning from my friendly legal eagle (actually more like
a vampire), the same reasoning can be applied to computer programs.
So: if you have a home computer system, and have written a program to
do something, it is quite possible that the Revenue Canada people will
1. Crash down your door (no warrent needed).
2. Sieze your computer system.
3. Sue you for back taxes, based on their idea of the estimated worth
of computer programs.
I do not believe this, but after half an hour of examples from other
fields, I am getting more convinced that this can happen.
Patrick ("Only in Canada, you say? What a pity.") Powell