Text of suggested constituent message from Canadians for Tax Fairness:
Dear Prime Minister Harper:
I urge you to support British Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposed global rules to prevent tax evasion at the G8 Summit.
Federal and provincial governments in Canada are losing billions of dollars in tax revenue that is needed to fund health, education and other critical public services. Poor countries in Africa are also losing ten times what they receive in aid because of illicit financial flows facilitated by tax havens.
I understand that Canada may be blocking agreement at the upcoming G8 Summit on key measures to tackle tax havens. Why would you oppose a public registry of who are the ultimate beneficial owners of companies, accounts and trusts when this would lift the veil of secrecy that protects tax evaders and criminal organizations? Why oppose automatic tax information exchange when this could help tax authorities to go after tax cheats?
Tax havens are a huge and growing problem. Canada needs to support, not block, strong coordinated global action now to tackle tax havens.
I am also sending this message to my Member of Parliament asking that they do what they can to get Canada to be a leader, not a laggard on fighting tax evasion.
Sincerely,
Do people not realize that ultimately most of these great new regulatory ideas bite the little guys the hardest? It’s like Americans who are totally cool with being spied on until they or their kid ends up being victimized by the inevitable screw-ups that such a potluck gathering of data produces.
@ YogaGirl
No, I don’t think Canadians for Tax Fairness and similar groups realize the full impact of the policies they
are pushing.
Continuing on comments I have made elsewhere, I am coming around to think that the principal issue for us is citizenship-based taxation. Absent citizenship-based taxation, FATCA becomes just another public policy issue of no more and no less interest to “US persons” outside the US than to anyone else.
The best way to eliminate US citizenship-based taxation may be a multilateral approach to tax evasion. That means standardized information sharing, and for all intents and purposes it would exclude citizenship information, which is of interest solely to the US. It would also be far more efficient than thousands of bilateral agreements. The chief obstacle I see is not the existence of tax havens, but tax systems around the world that are inconsistent in structure and enforcement. (For example, income tax compliance in France, Italy, and Greece is notoriously low; is it likely any better in developing countries?)
That being said, and on the basis of my admittedly flimsy knowledge of Cameron’s agenda, I would support the intent of Canadians for Tax Fairness on this issue.
NorthernShrike
Thanks for the comment. I am not advocating against CTF in anyway. I do happen to believe from other sources of mine that Cameron is in fact attempting to sign Canada up for FATCA. I also know Cameron and his government how strongly defended the US’ citizenship based tax policies and the US’ sovereign right to enact them to UK citizens who have enquired about them.(The UK was also the first country to sign an IGA with the US)
I talked to the author of the article in the Ottawa Citizen this morning that was published over the weekend and caused this entire kerfuffle. He had not heard of a link between FATCA and what is being discussed by Cameron at the G8 however, he is making some phone calls and will publish a new piece if he is able to get some new information.
I can also say bilateral negotiation between the US and Canada on an IGA have continued so it is not as if Canada has called off all discussion with the US on FATCA.
What does bother is Canada already exchanges tax information with other countries(such as the US, UK, France, etc) on the basis of residency(i.e. non Canadians residents who receive Canadian source income). You could strongly argue this is already Automatic Exchange of Information although not multilaterally based. I am concerned that terms are being shifted in very dangerous ways. Canada ALREADY has automatic exchange of information. FATCA has something complete beyond that. So I don’t know why Harper would oppose something his government already does unless he is opposing something complete different.
I will also add Canada has a LOT of bilateral agreements relative to other countries. From a standpoint of pure self interest why would Canada want to a multilateral agreement when it has already done the legwork of negotiating bilaterally.
Tim writes:
So is Cameron doing this because:
1) the US asked/told him to, or
2) it makes the UK’s adoption of FATCA more palatable if the US’ “largest trading partner” signs up also
TDott
Both
Cameron is trying to salvage his own reputation. If FATCA implodes, the Brits look pretty silly, but then they already do. When will they learn that kowtowing to the Americans can bring nothing but scorn and derision, pain and misery? Didn’t they figure that one out already when Blair and Shrub went blindly traipsing hand-in-hand into Iraq? FATCA is simply a more bloodless version of the same foreseeable disaster.
This is NOT just about tax. This is mostly about enslavement of people and hindering those who try to escape oppression worldwide. If every cent that every person owns or has an interest in is known to every Government then how in the name of God will the oppressed manage to escape with even the price of a cup of soup? Transparency is NOT a good thing.
Cdns 4 Tax Fairness @CdnTaxFairness 43m
.@MurrayRankin Good news for Intl Tax Cheats: More CRA Auditors Gone http://bit.ly/1mgvbps
My response:
Wildlife Photog @pro_photog1970 7m
@CdnTaxFairness I presume you support #FATCA too.
Wildlife Photog @pro_photog1970 6m
@CdnTaxFairness …because after all my wife pays her #CDNtaxes. But receives absolutely shit in benefits from #USA #herfairshare?????