Everyone in Canada benefit from the things our governments use taxes to pay for.  That applies whether you actually pay taxes or not.  (For example an infant that probably has no income and does not directly purchase things)

Income Taxes

One of the major source of tax revenue in Canada is a percent of income.  This can be personal or Corporate income.  The tax also applies to virtually every type of income although lottery winnings and gifts are tax free in Canada (this is not an universal principal internationally).

One of my pet peeves is the taxing of some. benefit income.  Things like free or subsidized parking costs, insurance benefits, personal health funding.

I find taxes on money I never actually recieve (for example the value placed on parking at your workplace).  In these case tax is collected on the assessed value of the benefit allocated even though you never actually see the money but the tax amount is deducted from your earnings.

What about a head tax?

This type of deduction happened to me recently and it gets me thinking about tax reform.

I have long been a believer in a head tax to replace personal income tax.  Corporate, sales property and other existing tax methods could remain but the possibility to lower them would exist.

A head tax is very simple and exceedingly fair.  You take the unfunded government spending (after those other tax types I mentioned) divide it by the countries population and that is the tax due from everyone.  Simply put, every head in the country pays tax (whether you earn income or not) and every one pays an equal share.

Logistically the calculation is made following a fiscal year (so you know what the spending shortfall was).  Population wise the census numbers are used so they won’t be exact but close enough.  Collection wise, the government just grabs it from your accounts or wages if you don’t pay and there are penalties for not paying of course.

On Oct 25th I started a post series that would be about the 37 live rock concerts I have attended in my life so far.

Over time, I am listing the next three best.  Four posts so far covered the top twelve (listed below), today’s covers thirteen to fifteen.

Just a reminder; 1) Paul McCartney, 2) Led Zeppelin, 3) Elton John 4)Alice Cooper 5) Al Stewart 6) Queen 7) Bee Gees 8) Deep Purple 9) James Taylor 10)Blue Oyster Cult, 11)Johnny Winter, 12) Uriah Heep

And today’s list

13) The Monkees – this was the first concert I ever saw. It was 1968 and their TV show was just ending it’s original run.  I was a young teenager as was most of the rest of the audience.  The music is timeless and was fabulous then just as it is today.

11) 1910 Fruitgum Company – Bubblegum rock at its best, hey I was really young for this concert too.  What I loved about this show was how happy the band was, happy songs and happy audience. Oh to return to that level of happiness.

12) Allman Brothers Band –  A classic stoners band.  By my estimation everyone in the audience was stoned on something.  I attended with my brother (the accountant ) and I am sure those sitting around us thought we were narcs. Fortunately they offered to share a hit with us anyway.  Fabulous concert.

A common required attribute on job postings is self motivation.  Chatting with some  colleagues today it occurred to me just how key a high level of self motivation is to being happy with what you do.

Don’t tell me what to do!

If you are one of those types that doesn’t take direction well, and there are a few of us out there, being self motivated can really help.  When someone tells you what to do they often find it’s already done.

One of the key reasons self motivation is a desired skill for job applicants is because those employees typically require less direction or supervision.

More importantly though continually looking for things to do and keeping active both fosters and is a sign of happiness.

Although We don’t always consciously recognize it, numerous psychology studies have proven being active and contentedness and overall  feeling of well being are linked.

This positive effect from being active is lost to some extent if your activity is primarily directed by others rather than self directed.

Get Going

So take charge, find your own way.  Don’t let yourself be dictated to by the problems around you.  Break out, find a way, get it done.

Bullying behavior is generally aggressive and hurtful.

For those that practice this techique it is a way to reinforce superiority and can certainly be an effective way to get things done, but care is advised.

Caution does need to be applied particularly if your behaviour is too aggressive and too frequent , you can get a bad reputation or even experience negative consequences.

On occassion, the results you reap can come back to bite you.  Consider the example of Martin Winterkorn , former CEO of Volkswagen who has been accused of openly berating employees.  This behavior has been linked to the recent scandal the company  has experienced, as one of the contributing factors.

Working effectively with Aggressive Behavior

As hard as it is to do, poking the bully, in the nicest possible way, is often the best approach.  That is, standing up for yourself.  Typically this is hard to do in the short term but over the long term its an effective technique to waylay bully’s in the workplace.

The best and most effective alternate to this approach is to leave.  Basically a polite statement about not appreciating the abuse and just leaving.

The biggest problem with these approaches of course is the organizational power structure.  When you are lower in an organizational heirarchy there is a tendency to just accept the aggressive feedback as if there is no choice.

Of course potential consequences contribute to this acceptance as well.

Easy Advice to Give

When you are not the target,  it is easy to suggest fighting back (in a gentle and non violent way) but if in the long run this recommendation can   not resolve an issue,  the only other good alternative is to exit.  The road most often chosen.

The European Union, Denmark, Switzerland and Japan all have negative central bank interest rates.  This means you are charged for deposits held by the central banks in these area/countries.

Chartered/Commercial Banks

The economies of these places with negative central bank rates are based on the fractional reserve system.  This means commercial banks operating there need to maintain a specified minimum reserve deposit with the central bank.

The commercial banks earn interest revenue on the money that has been deposited with them for safekeeping.   To obtain deposits they pay the depositor a fee (interest on the amount deposited).  The bank charges a higher fee (interest) on the money they lend and the difference is their profit.

In the past funds lodged with the central banks as reserves also earned the commercial bank interest, this could be added to loan revenue and less what they paid depositors equaled profit.

In the areas with negative central bank rates the formula is reversed – it is now loan revenue less reserve holding cost less deposit costs.

On the surface, one would expect the commercial banks reserve holding costs to be factored into their deposit rates (i.e. lower deposit rates) so profit remained at least static.  This has not happened yet, explicitly anyway, although I won’t be holding my breath.

Why do I Care?

Both Canada and the US central banks have been publicly  exploring the potential use of negative interest rates to increase spending in the economy.  It is a very real possibility.

What else happens?

Government bonds start to be issued with negative rates (this is already occurring in Switzerland, Denmark and the EU).    If low risk government bonds is a preferred investment vehicle you may rethink that approach and spend the money, invest in economic activity (the equity market) or put cash under your mattress (this being the lowest risk way of protecting your capital).

Hows this working out?

Japan just implemented negative rates last week but the other areas have been trying it out for more than a year with so far little positive change in their economies.

What do proponents like about this idea?

Simply put, negative interest rates discourage saving.  If you are not saving you are spending.  Spending causes the economy to grow.  Of course this is not absolute logical as you might not save with a bank but you might hold bank notes (cash) which won’t help the economy.

Or you might spend on things that fail – a start-up investment for example.  This does not help the economy and will make you sad.

In Summary

You may soon be punished for saving (whether for retirement or other purposes) or forced to higher risk investments.  All for an idea that has not worked, and in my humble opinion – won’t.

Earlier this week I posted about IQ and EQ.  Today I want to explore a specific model for EQ behaviors including some thoughts around actions you can take to improve your EQ.

The Model

Think of your emotional intelligence behaviors as falling into three groups:

• Constructive actions
  –  Achievement Focused
  –  Self-actualizing
  –  Humanistic/Encouraging
• Passive/Defensive Actions
  –   Avoidance
  –  Dependent
  –  Conventional
  –   Seeking approval
• Aggressive/Attack Actions
  –  Perfectionism
  –  Competative
  –  Power
  –  Oppositional

In this model it is recognized that on average we all exhibit these behavior types.  The question is how are they exercised (effectively/appropriately) and when (how often and mapped to situation)

Through studies, it have been shown, based on this model those with a high level of EQ overall are rated high for Constructive behaviors, Medium for Aggressive/Attack behavior and low for Passive/Defensive ones.

The ratings of high, medium and low are subjectively applied through anonymous survey questions by those that regularly interact with you.  These survey questions are structured so the high, medium, low scores include assessment of how effectively the behaviors are used.

How does this help?

If you can obtain an independent assessment of these behaviors (both from those who know you and yourself) it can help highlight the areas you wish to continue or change your behavior.

However, even without a formal assessment and anonymous feedback just self assessing yourself can be helpful.

Most of us can recognize when we are employing a specific group of behaviors. For example if we are acting competitively,  exercising our granted power just because can or being contrary (opposing) just because we want to we are in the aggressive space.

The aggressive practices have their place but ask yourself – am I pushing too hard, do I spend a lot of time, even most of my time acting this way?

If yes, maybe you want to try self-actualizing more often (a constructive behavior) that is all about internal analysis and understanding of your actions and how effective they are.  That is to say what are others seeing might not be getting the best results.

Practical Application

I have been fortunate to have participated in this type of assessment twice over the course of ten years.

On both occasions my own view of my behavior profile and that of peers, subordinates and managers mapped completely, and generally conformed to the model in terms of which behaviors should be high, medium and low.

This does not happen by accident.  Continually reviewing how I behave (both by thinking about it and questioning others) has been the cornerstone of my self awareness which results in behaving appropriately for the optimal effect.

The point is, if you know how you are trying to behave, you are more likely to both do it and sustain it ongoing.

You might not agree with this model and the way you mix, match and practice these behaviors is definitely individual.  The key though is being aware of how you are acting and checking that it is working as intended.