Attention News Editors:
CAITI calls upon Auditor General to heed the Liberal Party's call for an audit into alleged tax leakage
TORONTO, March 4 /CNW/ - By way of this press release, and in the name of its five thousand plus Founding Individual Members and on behalf of over 2.5 million income trust investors, the Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors (CAITI) is today calling upon the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, to pursue the investigation of alleged tax leakage from income trusts that was requested of her in a letter dated February 28, 2008 from the four Liberal Members of the Standing Committee on Finance.
Information on the Liberal Party initiative is at: http://www.liberal.ca/story_13639_e.aspx
Separately the Green Party have called for a public inquiry into alleged
tax leakage at: http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/07.12.2007
The income trust tax was premised upon the assertion that income trusts cause so called "tax leakage". This concept has never been proven by the government to exist, apart from 18 pages of blacked out documents issued by the Finance Minister, that were subsequently demanded be returned.
As such, Parliament has passed sweeping tax legislation on the basis of mere assumption. Such an approach undermines Canadian democracy and sound fiscal management and contradicts the mandate of the Auditor General, whose website states: "Parliamentarians need objective fact based information on how well the government raises its funds (taxes)."
Where is that information? Meanwhile much harm has arisen because of this unproven legislation, including:
- $65 billion in trust tax related takeovers, much of it by foreigners
- resultant loss of $1.4 billion in annual taxes to all Canadians, see
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,sid=3634&cid=177044,00.html?WT.mc_id=caen_gg_IT_buyout
- $35 billion loss in Canadian hard earned life savings
- $300 million loss in the assets of the Canada Pension Plan
To these myriad negative outcomes, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has brazenly stated: "It's not my fault".
It's time for the Auditor General to investigate that empty claim. It is incumbent upon her office to do so.
The Harper Conservative government promised it would usher in a new era
of Accountability and Transparency. By that, Canadians assumed more accountability and transparency, rather than less.
For further information: contact media@caiti.info or call (647) 505-2224
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Tuesday, March 4, 2008
CAITI Press Release of today to Auditor General
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6 comments:
The fact that Flaherty refuses to show us the evidence states volumes about his lack of due diligence when he made this decision.
Flaherty has an obligation as Minister of Finance to enact tax legislation in a way to mitigate damage to stakeholders.
The results were predicted, the Finance Committee recommended ways to mitigate damage and yet Flaherty stubbornly continued on his ill-thought path.
The tax leakage myths was dispelled long ago and yet we still have not seen Flaherty show us any evidence of the 'clear and present danger' he claimed...this implies an impending doom or a national crisis.
It's obvious now that the clear and present danger was the actions of the Finance Minister himself.
Hopefully , the Auditor General will take this cause to heart & do a very thorough investigation making sure that she has a chance to see "all" of the data.
The big question will be , if she makes recommendations , will they be listened to by the Gov`t--will there be any hope of any of these being carried-out.
Gov`ts seem to have a unique ability to let these things slide & nothing really changes.
It will be up to us to asset as much pressure as possible & make sure changes occur.
Mike.
polyian said:
"It's obvious now that the clear and present danger was the actions of the Finance Minister himself."
Please forgive the blatant accolades, but this statement, and indeed your preceding comments, are stupendous!
Flaherty is certainly a dangerous economic and financial DEMOLITION MAN.
And that's being generous.
While I, of course, applaud this and the Liberal initiative, I do wonder as to the "jurisdiction or authority" of the Auditor General in this pursuit.
When you think about it , is it not a shame that we have to go thru all this hassle just to get something that should have been out in the open in the first place.
Talk about hidden agendas.
Where do these guys get off doing something like this & why are they allowed to get away with?? It amazes me that no one other than us gives a damn about what is happening to this country.
Do people not care or are they just too all-consumed with what they perceive to be their own lives , that they do not see what is going on around them.
The income trust issue is just the tip of the ice-berg.
Perhaps the most egregious of the lot is the poor management of the economy to a point that we are teetering on the edge of a recession.
I am not sure Mr Flaherty has the aptitude or the right people around him to do the job at a time like this--he has been slow to react to the situation which has imperiled the whole economy.
Time to remove this deadwood & get some new talent in there.
Mike---still simmering in Rodney.
Mike:
I agree with you entirely and whole-heartedly.
It "long ago" - less than two short years actually - became quite apparent that Deceivin' Stephen's promises of, amongst other things, "open, honest and transparent" government were nothing more than a sham, much like the very promise concerning income trusts.
Unfortunately - myself included until a couple of years ago, I must admit - most people pay little attention to politics, decisions flowing therefrom and their ramifications.
As to Flaherty, he's a loud-mouth, bombastic, maniacal MORON, plain and simple.
And that's putting it mildly, I'd say.
Look what the idiot and his ilk left in Ontario.
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