Some years ago many cities and other municipalities in the U.S., needing large amounts of money to replace or upgrade water and sewer systems, garbage handling systems and, in some cases where electrical utilities were publicly owned, generation plants.

By the way - one of the benefits of being Canadian is that a substantial portion of our electrical generation system has been publicly owned, in my opinion.

Those U.S. municipalities were finding it difficult to recruit the large amounts of money necessary through bond issues.

So governments allowed them in certain cases to offer bonds on which the interest payments would be free of income tax. They are called "tax-free munis".

As you know, a federal election is in the offing in Canada.

The Liberals are worried because of their money scandals in Quebec, etc. and the (no longer "Progressive") Conservatives are worried that their leader is not popular enough in a large enough part of the country to allow them to form a government.

Many are saying that with interest rates at current levels, those depending on income from investments to live are having a difficult time.

Now might be a good time to visit your M.P., jump up and down an shout, telling him (or one of the few "her"s in the place) how hard it is to live on your current (mostly interest) income.

And saying that many cities need to replace aging and deteriorating water and sewer systems, or build new systems for garbage disposal. The latter perhaps especially relevant should you be a resident of Toronto or some other southwestern Ont. areas, a substantial portion of whose gargage is being trucked to Michigan - at the moment. While some citizens of Michigan are rather wrathful about that, none of the advocates of closing the border find it useful to mention (probably a number of them don't even know) that a fair amount of (mostly liquid) hazardous waste from Michigan and surrounding areas is coming over the border the other way and being pumped down into the ground in southwestern Ontario.

But those Canadian municipalities are having a hard time finding the money.

That you, as a public-spirited citizen, would like to help them carry out those refurbishings or developments as needed (even though you, if you're a senior, may not be around long enough to reap major benefit from such construction).

How about changing the income tax system to allow Canadians to buy the bond issues necessary to achieve those goals, and allow them to be tax-free?

Sounds like a good idea to me.

By the way, I wrote a thread a while ago, here or on the "Money Saving Tips" forum, "Why I don't like earning interest" that might interest you.

As I've said so often that I'm sure that some are getting tired of hearing it - "Learning how money works is an interesting hobby - that pays well!".

I'm going tonight to hear the editor of "Canadian MoneySaver", that I consider Canada's best money management magazine - not slick, all message, no ads, so totally subscriber-driven). With son (daughter can't make it) as they're developing an interest in how money works.

I hope that you're enjoying your fall - and life in general.

ole joyful