Jack Mintz: "I don't have an agenda"

Meanwhile, Flaherty “has no proof”.

Sounds like the perfect “set up”.

Just add equal parts of Eric Reguly.......and spin until the truth is completely discarded.


"I don't have an agenda" to stifle income trusts, Jack Mintz says. "I like tax neutrality."
Mintz slammed over trust stance: Group questions 'tax leakage' of $1-billion a year

National Post
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Byline: Carrie Tait
Source: Financial Post

Income trust proponents lashed out at Jack Mintz yesterday, arguing he is picking on income trusts and pushing inflated tax leakage figures to promote his larger agenda of overhauling Canada's corporate tax structure.

Mr. Mintz, professor of business economics at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, estimates the government will lose about $1-billion a year in tax revenue because of income trusts, a figure the Canadian Association of Income Funds, along with other income trust fans, hotly disputes.

CAIF argues the corporate tax revenue lost by a company converting into an income trust is offset by increased personal income tax, and points to research by HLB Decision Economics Inc., a company CAIF hired to crunch the numbers.

With this data in hand, CAIF is questioning the motives behind Mr. Mintz's $1.1-billion number.

Mr. Mintz spent seven years at C.D. Howe Institute, an economic think-tank, where he lobbied for sweeping changes to Canada's corporate tax structure. Critics say he is flogging tax leakage statistics as part of an ongoing campaign to prove his suggestions should have been adopted.

"Mr. Mintz seems to be using income funds as the thin edge of the wedge in his pursuit of a larger agenda of tax reform he has been chasing for years," said Jeffrey Singer, a senior partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP.

"Income funds are essentially his convenient lever."

George Kesteven, CAIF's president and the manager of investor relations at PrimeWest Energy Trust, agrees.

"That's a lot of what's behind Mintz's approach to this whole issue. It's a little bit of: 'See, I told you. You didn't amend the corporate tax system and this is one of the outcomes.' "

Mr. Mintz dismissed these charges: "I don't have an agenda," he said. "I like tax neutrality."

The debate over income trusts and their impact on the Canadian economy has gained momentum since Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. declared their intentions to convert into income trusts early next year. With a combined market capitalization of $45-billion, these two will be mammoth additions to the trust sector, which currently has about 265 members with a total market cap of $220-billion.

The same income trust discussion raged this time last year when the Liberals suggested changes needed to be made to the way income trusts are taxed. In the end, the Liberals decided to "level the playing field" between trusts and corporations by increasing the dividend tax credit.

With a minority government, observers say it is unlikely the Conservatives will want to tinker with such a politically charged topic.

"No one wants to star in the remake of a movie that was a disaster the first time it ran," Mr. Singer said.