Well, to the rest of the Canadian people, “Welcome to Our World!” In the same manner as the Harper Government, the Trudeau Liberals are using budget bills to sneak in provisions the Canadian people are completely unaware of. I sincerely hope we see Canadians rise up and challenge this garbage. Now we can add “tax evasion” to “terrorism” as the means by which governments are destroying any rights ALL citizens have.
by Elizabeth Thompson
Senior Reporter, CBC Ottawa
elizabeth.thompson@cbc.ca
Article is here
(1100 Comments -Commenting is now closed for this story)
EXCERPTS
Confidential information from Canadian taxpayers could soon be shared with police and authorities in three dozen countries around the world, under measures included in Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s latest budget.
In an inconspicuous section tucked into a small 78-page annex to the budget, the government says it wants to give police and tax authorities new powers to fight tax evasion and advance international investigations into serious crimes, ranging from drug trafficking and money laundering to terrorism.
***“If you can get something buried in the budget that nobody knows about, sometimes you can get something passed without getting the kind of heat it deserves,” said Michael Bryant, executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a former Ontario attorney general.
“Well, this deserves a lot of heat from the opposition and scrutiny from media.”
Michael Bryant, Executive Director CCLA, former Attorney General for Ontario
***Currently, the Canada Revenue Agency can share confidential tax information about Canadians with authorities in other countries that are investigating serious cases, such as tax evasion. However, under Canadian law, the CRA cannot share that information with officials in another country investigating a crime other than tax evasion.
***The proposed new policy affects more than tax information.
***While tax authorities in other countries can ask Canada for an individual’s tax information, that policy currently doesn’t extend to other information like bank account records. Under a second proposal, the government would allow the legal tools contained in the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act — such as court orders — to be used to obtain information being sought by another tax authority.
***While the proposal was included in the budget, it will require the approval of Parliament before it can become law and be implemented. Finance Department spokesman Jack Aubry said it has not yet been decided whether the policy will be part of the budget implementation bill or some other piece of legislation.
Aah Canada it seems is trying another approach to get under the FATCA bed with USA and other countries. It is desperately trying to get information on Canadians living in other countries or investing overseas away from Canada. CRS is making every country wake up whether resident or not. The idea is only to get as much revenue as possible. I know many Canadians living overseas are having problems with Swiss banks and brokerages in other countries.
Supposedly confidential information about Canadian TAXPAYERS is being released. A non-resident Canadian citizen doesn’t have to be a Canadian taxpayer — you just have to remember not to invest in Canada. I learned that lesson the hard way too. But I didn’t have to renounce Canadian citizenship.
One of our founders,Thomas Jefferson said we don’t need guns to protect us from our neighbors, but to protect us from our tyrannical government, if we ever need to. Well said TOM.
that must be the law implementing CRS. The law that liberals envy when complaining about what FATCA does to them