Reviews
Mark Milke
Author of Tax Me I’m Canadian and Public Policy Analyst
Neal Winokur’s The Grumpy Accountant is exactly what any Canadian frustrated with how governments tax, spend, and borrow with wild abandon needs to read. The book not only details the inability of governments to focus on what matters and skip that which does not, as an accountant, Winokur also offers 29 valuable tips so you can avoid ‘giving’ the Leviathan of government any more than necessary.
Scott Hennig
President & CEO, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The Grumpy Accountant accomplishes an almost unimaginable literary feat: it’s funny and it explains the Canadian tax system. Yes, there are real-life tax tips. And yes, there are intriguing tax policy ideas. But best of all, it’s packed with hilarity as characters bumble through Canada’s maze of tax regulations and provoke searing satirical rants from the grumpy accountant. It’s like watching a hit sitcom that’ll get you a bigger tax refund.
Hugh Segal
Mathews Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen’s University
“The clear reasoning, trenchant analysis and solid advice in ‘The Grumpy Accountant’, should shape an aggressive tax reform agenda for Canada, and the sooner the better! “
Jack M. Mintz, C. M.
President’s Fellow, School of Public Policy, University of Calgary
“It is not easy to find a book on taxation that is fun to read as well as educational. Neal Winokur’s Grumpy Accountant is the story about how an accountant tries to explain a very complicated personal tax system to a hard working individual who understandably has no clue about taxes except they are deducted from his paycheque. I was impressed that the accountant had a pretty good idea about the reasons for many provisions in the tax system — not many do! The argument that the personal tax could be simplified by eliminating special deductions and credits resulting in a substantial reduction in tax rates is one we have heard before but hopefully Winokur’s book will make the persuasive case.”
Moshe A. Milevsky, Ph.D.
Finance Professor, York University
The personal tax system is a complicated muddle of expanding rules & forms that probably enriches the accounting industry more so than government. Neal’s book does a great job of shining a light on this godawful mess in a humorous manner, as well as offering some suggestions on what might be done about it. If you are a tax-paying citizen this book will either enrage you or result in an attempt to convince your kids to become tax accountants so they too can secure a lifetime employment annuity – or possibly both.
Robin Taub, CPA, CA
www.robintaub.com
Believe it or not, early in my career, I too was a grumpy accountant. I still have nightmares about those years: having no life during “tax season” (February until April 30 every year), filing endless tax returns and trying to deal with the CRA. I got out as fast as I could and I never looked back!
Professionally or personally, I have encountered most of the scenarios and the frustrations Neal describes. But the catharsis I experienced was just one reason why I enjoyed this book so much. It’s well-written, easy to read and understand – and funny! It’s not just for grumpy accountants – it’s for all Canadian taxpayers who “don’t know what they don’t know” about our tax system. The 29 tips in the book will help you save taxes and avoid costly mistakes. I am going to insist that my kids read it, but since they are Seinfeld fans, it won’t be a hard sell (special Easter eggs throughout the book for Seinfeld fans!)
Masha Zakharenkova, CPA, CMA, MBA
Founder of Canadian Cloud Accounting
After the first few pages I read, I realized that this is the book that EVERY Canadian should read. So I decided to give it to my teenage kids as well since they are at the age where they enter the workforce and start thinking about their financial future. It took me a while to convince them to read it as they hated even the thought of reading anything “accounting- or tax-related”. However, when they started reading it, they said they were glad it was not a dry textbook-like explanation of the Canadian tax system and was very easy to read and quite entertaining.
I personally really enjoyed the book and the way the author was explaining complicated Canadian taxation in simple and down-to-earth terms. One of my kids had a very interesting comment about the book at the end of his reading: “I am glad I’ve read it, but now I wish I didn’t know many things that I now know about the Canadian tax system!” My other kid said that now he knows for sure that in order to understand and comply with the Canadian tax system, you better hire a professional or keep learning all the rules throughout your life since it is SO complicated! Both of them said that they would definitely recommend the book to their friends who are only starting to enter the job market and know nothing about when and how to file taxes, what to do when CRA is calling, and so on. I could only add that for many Canadians this book would be an invaluable source of information or even a reference material that they could always get back to in order to understand the complexity of the Canadian taxation system.
Sean Cooper
Mortgage Broker and Bestselling Author of Burn
Robert R. Brown
Author of Wealthing Like Rabbits – An Original and Occasionally Entertaining Introduction to the World of Personal Finance
