Thursday, June 12, 2008

Toronto Star writes: Pension idea needs your help


James Daw
Toronto Star


You want ideas? Here are my ideas:

Let’s hold pension funds to their own federally legislated pension rules and not allow pension funds like Teachers' to control BCE when Teachers regulations limit it to 30% voting control, thereby creating a situation that causes $793 million a year in tax leakage. (I thought your paper opposes tax leakage?)

Let’s not allow pension funds to own asset classes that ordinary citizens can not, like private income trusts that are free of the 31.5% tax when RRSPs are taxed at 31.5%.

Let’s prevent pension funds from exploiting this tax arbitrage (do you know what the meaning of that term, if not call me?) and act in a predatory way to acquire devalued trusts from average Canadians for their pension plan beneficiaries. Many examples of this since Halloween 2006, starting with the purchase of undervalued Thunder Energy Trust by the federal civil servants own Public Sector Pension Plan. Let’s extend the retirement income splitting benefit to those Canadians who are not members of pension plans.

The last thing the public capital markets needs is another predatory pension plan with supra governmental type powers.

Get back to me once you’ve rectified these gross inequities, as I have lots of other ideas and , starting with disclosure rules for tax policies that wipe out $35 billion in hard earned pension savings and the raiding of seniors nest eggs. Your paper is supportive of blacked out documents in support of the media induced conspiracy called tax leakage.



Pension idea needs your help

June 12, 2008
James Daw

Millions of Canadians need to speak up if they want to maintain their current standard of living in retirement......blah blah blah....meanwhile the Toronto Star supports a policy that wiped out $35 billion in retirement savings based on the fraudulent claims of Mark Carney and Jim Flaherty.

1 comment:

Dr Mike said...

As I was self-employed until my retirement , my pension plan was self-imposed & determined by the nature of my investments.

Income trusts fit that bill perfectly---I had no need of any "newfangled" government pension plans.

All that I had asked was that the gov`t keep it`s promise not to tax trusts & my plan was secure.

And we all know how that worked out.

I am still throwing water in my face over that one.

Dr Mike